WWHI? Book 2
by Pendragon.P a s s i o n
Summary: Eventually all Will could do was curl into a ball as a feeble attempt to protect himself. The man stepped back and looked at the sobbing boy below him. Will gets kidnapped in The Burning Bridge by Morgarath. plz RRR. relax.read.review.
1. Not One For Words

**NOTE!! ALL CHAPPIES UP TO 20 HAVE BEEN RE-EDITED. NO PLOT POINTS CHANGE JUST GRAMMAR AND WORDY STUFF.**

**Hello.**

**This is my most recent FanFic and I was thinking..eh..I'll shove it on ...so RRR..tell me honestly what u think even if its not exactly nice...be as mean as u want..**

**Disclaimer: **Alas! My heart is wrenched in two pieces from the pain to know that I do not now, nor ever will own Ranger's Apprentice or any of the characters that reside within the wonderful story, yet here I am writing about them as if I did..

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**Chapter 1 – Not One For Words**

Nock, draw, aim, shoot.

Nock, draw, aim, shoot.

Nock, draw, aim, -

"Watch your right elbow doesn't drop Will."

Readjust, shoot.

Will turned around to look at his mentor. "You know Halt, that can really scare some people."

"What can?"

"The way you just...appear."

"But not you?"

Will shook his head smiling. "Never me." He started walking towards the targets to collect his arrows. "How'd the meeting with the Baron go?" he called back.

"Good."

"Anything new that I should know about?"

"No."

"Anything new at all?"

"Yes."

Will sighed, Halt definitely wasn't one for words. "Are you going to tell me?" he asked.

"Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Depends if you make a satisfying dinner," Halt answered at length, and with that he turned round and walked into the cottage.

"Well," Will muttered quietly to himself, "that was a lovely conversation."

He turned back to one of the targets and gently wiggled an arrow out, then the next and the next. By the time Will was pulling out the last arrow he was so engrossed in his task he barely heard the man come up behind him. Luckily, at the last moment, Will whipped around.

"Hello," said the man coolly. He was a tall man, obviously well muscled and fit, dressed well, with a sword hanging from his hip. His blonde hair was cut short and he was cleanly shaved.

"Um, hi," Will answered, slightly unnerved. He didn't mind Halt randomly popping from nowhere but people whom he had never met, well, it was freaky. The man took a step closer. "What do you want?"

"Ah, you see that's were a misunderstanding is taking place," he stated. "It's not what I want, it's what my master wants." He took another step closer.

"And who is your master?"

"You'll find out...soon enough..."

He quickly took the final step to close the gap between them and swung his fist at Will's head. Will was ready for it and he ducked, he took a step backwards to give himself some room but came back into the target. Damn, Will thought, I never should've let him get so close. He ducked another blow but this time when he came back up the man elbowed him on the top of his head. The force of it made Will fall to his knees, the man kicked at Will wildly until all he could do was curl into a ball as a feeble attempt to protect himself. The man stepped back and looked at the sobbing boy below him.

"Pathetic," the man spat.

Will looked up at him, wishing that Halt would come out of the cottage and kill the man. Will would've done it himself but in his present condition found it hard to even sit up, let alone stand. Then, as if he heard his wishes, Halt stepped out of the cottage.

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	2. Beatings

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**Chapter 2 - Beatings**

Once Halt went inside he gratefully sank into his favourite chair by the fire, which Will had kept going all day. Halt thought it was a bit unfair, his apprentice spent the day keeping the fire going while he spent all day with the Baron and Sir Rodney planning tactics and other useful things to send to the King to help him try and finally defeat Morgarath. I'll have to take Will along tomorrow, he thought, his thinking could be useful. For a while Halt just sat thinking then he realised Will hadn't come back in yet. Surely he must have collected his arrows by now.

Groaning slightly, Halt stood up from his chair and walked out onto the veranda calling out to Will. "I'm getting very hungry! When's din...?" the question remained unasked when Halt saw Will, and the man. Not bothering to use the stairs, Halt jumped off the side of the veranda and started running towards him.

"I don't think you'll take another step if you want the boy to live."

Halt stopped dead in his tracks as the man bent and lifted Will's head up by his hair, a dagger at his throat. He saw blood trickling down Will's face from a kick the man gave him.

"Put the dagger down," Halt commanded quietly.

"I don't think you are in any position to be giving orders, do you?" he then pulled Will into a standing position, by his hair, and held him up by it seeing as Will couldn't stand himself. Even though he tried not to, Will whimpered slightly and Halt felt his anger rising up.

"Let him go." he said darkly.

"Um," the man said, obviously having fun with this. "I don't think I will."

Halt took a couple of steps forward but the man applied pressure to the dagger and again Halt stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a trickle of blood.

"Don't," said the man.

Then Halt saw four other men come out of the trees behind the man, all of which started towards Halt. He took up a stance just in time as the first man swung at him. He missed and for a moment Halt was winning but four was too many, even for Halt. One punched him in the head hard and he fell. The men jumped on him and after and minute or so the man holding Will, who was feebly trying to get to Halt, said, "That's enough."

The men stopped beating and Halt slowly got up. Before he could go anywhere two of the men grabbed his arms and held him back, while the other two strode over to "Blondie", as Halt decided to name him, and stood slightly behind him.

"Please, Will," Halt begged, puffing slightly from the beating. "Please, let him go. Just please let Will go. Please."

"Fine." Blondie said bluntly and he dropped Will on the ground.

Will gasped on impact. Halt struggled, trying to get away from the men and help Will. But there was no escaping them.

"Be still," Blobie warned him. But Halt still struggled. Blondie turned to where Will lay and gave him a mighty boot. Will yelped and this only made Halt struggle harder. "I said," Blondie paused and booted Will again, this time in the head. "Be still!" This time Halt stopped.

Will lay on the ground, both hands holding his head. Between sobs he managed to gasp out, "You bastard." This earned him another almighty kick.

"Leave him be," Halt begged again. "Whatever you want have me instead."

"I'm afraid I can't. You see, my master ordered me to capture your apprentice alive and as much as I would've liked to kill you he forbade me to do so."

"And who is your master?"

"I can't say, but let me assure you. You two know each other."

He walked forward and stopped right in front of Halt, bending a little so as they were face to face. Halt tried to lash out at the man but he was held firm, so instead he spat in his face. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the other two men kick at Will a few times.

"Look at me Halt." Blondie ordered, but as much as Halt hated seeing Will being treated like he was, Halt couldn't bear to know it was happening and just listen to Will's moans and whimpers of pain.

"I said look at me!" this time Blondie grabbed Halt's chin and forced him to face him. Then the two stopped beating Will. "If you say or do anything that my buddies over there don't like, poor young Will's gonna get it. Ok?"

Halt stared at him for a moment. "I understand." Halt said quietly. His eyes wandered a little to check on Will. As they did the two beat him again. "Hey!" Halt exclaimed. "I didn't do anything!"

"Look at me Halt."

Halt did and the beating stopped.

"Now," Blondie said. "This is how it's going to happen. I'm going to take your apprentice with me and you're going to stay here, so um, bye Halt." then he turned to the two holding Halt. "Take care of him."

Halt felt the men's grip shift, then one came around in front of him while the other was still holding him. He punched Halt in the head, left, right, left. When he decided Halt wouldn't be able to stand up on his own he nodded to the other man dropped Halt and joined in the beating as well. Eventually Halt fell unconscious and the two walked back over to Blondie.

"Pick him up." Blondie said pointing to Will, who was also unconscious thanks to another good kick to the head. When one of the other men slung him over his shoulder Blondie started walking back the way they came. "Let's go." he said.

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	3. Taken

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**Chapter 3 – Taken**

Halt's head was pounding. His whole body was sore. But the main pain was his heart. Will had been taken and there was practically nothing he could have done to stop it. Slowly he opened his eyes. He instantly regretted it when the sun shone terribly bright. Halt blinked a couple of times to get used to the light, then slowly (very slowly) dragged himself up off the ground.

"Will," he said quietly.

He called Abelard over with a whistle and considered saddling him but when he almost passed out just from the effort of standing he thought better. After Halt finally managed to pull himself onto Abelard he rode into Castle Redmont bareback. When Halt got to the gate Sir Rodney happened to be walking past, and he saw Halt.

"By God's name, what happened to you Halt?" he exclaimed, rushing over to help Halt down. He looked quite a sight, thought Rodney. He had blood running down his face from about three different cuts, he had a black eye and no doubt was black and blue everywhere else He looked like he was going to pass out any second.

"Will," Halt said.

Rodney looked around for the apprentice but saw none. "What about Will, is he injured, hurt?"

Halt nodded.

"Well, where is he then?"

Halt shook his head, almost crying. "He's been taken!"

Rodney saw the pain in Halt's eyes and started leading him to the Baron's quarters. "What! Who took him?"

"A man. I don't who he worked for but he said that his master wanted Will alive."

They reached Baron Arald's quarters and Rodney didn't bother knocking. He opened the door and, half dragging, carrying and leading Halt, they went in.

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	4. The Camp

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to Legendary_Ranger for your lying words of encouragment :)..hehe...but seriously...thnx...this chapter is for you..**

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**Chapter 4 - The Camp**

Will moaned and put a hand to his aching head.

What happened? I was practising, then Halt came home and then…oh God. Will cracked his eyes open. He was looking up at a starry night sky, then slowly (very slowly) he sat up.

"Argh," he gasped, suddenly becoming dizzy and his whole body throbbed with pain.

"You'd wanna be careful. They beat you up pretty bad."

Will snapped his head to the side, instantly regretting it. Sitting by the light of a small fire was a big man wearing a sheepskin vest and seal fur boots.

"You're a sea wolf?" Will asked slowly.

"Yep. Name's Erak." he held out a hand and leant forward so Will could reach it.

Will took the offered hand. "I'm Will." He shivered a bit and edged closer to the fire. "So, where are we?"

"Don't you know?"

Will shook his head.

"We're at Morgarath's main camp."

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**Yes, yes I know it's only a very miniscule chapter but I would like to thank the four people for reviewing...it's all good stuff and I thankyou for that...**

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	5. In The Baron's Quarters

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**Chapter 5 – In The Baron's Quarters**

Baron Arald had been sitting at his desk going over paperwork that was to be sent to the King when his door opened.

"Baron," Sir Rodney said as he came in.

"Oh my God," Arald gasped, rushing over when he saw Halt. "Sit him here." he said pulling over a big, cushiony chair. Rodney gently lowered Halt down who gasped slightly at having to bend and his vision flickered. Halt took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"What happened?" the Baron asked.

"Will's gone." Rodney replied immediately.

Baron Arald widened his eyes in shock. "Where?"

Rodney shrugged.

Arald looked at Halt, he was obviously in pain and fighting to stay awake. "Go get a healer," he said to Rodney who nodded and moved out of the room. The Baron knelt down, face to face with Halt and took his head in his hands.

"Halt," he began softly, looking him in the eyes. "What happened? Who did this?"

There was no reaction from Halt, no flicker in the eyes, not the slightest movement from his body. Just as Arald was about to ask him again Halt whispered, "They took him."

"Who?"

Halt shook his head. "I don't know. I came home from the meeting and he was out the back practising, he was fine. Then I went back out a while after and there were men…" at this point Halt's eyes started to fill with moisture, "and Will was on the ground and then they started beating him up and there was nothing…I-I couldn't…" Halt's voice broke and Baron Arald could tell he was trying so hard not to cry. He pulled the Ranger into a hug, trying to comfort him, but nothing could lessen the pain he felt.

At that moment Rodney came back with the healer, Arald broke the embrace and stood up. He let the healer look after Halt while he took Rodney over to the corner and told him what he knew.

"Blimey," Rodney whispered. "Imagine what he's going through right now?"

"I know," Arald replied. "If Halt's not alright, which it's obvious he's not, we'll have to send for another Ranger to help get Will back."

"Maybe Gilan?" suggested Rodney.

"Yes, Gilan would be good, he knows Will."

"I'll go send for him now." Rodney said.

As Sir Rodney left the room the healer stood and walked to the Baron.

"How is he?" he asked.

"Not as bad as it looks," was the reply. "He'll live and, although I have no idea how, nothing is broken. All he needs is some decent rest and make sure those cuts don't become infected."

"Thankyou," Arald said simply and the healer left. Arald then went back to his original position in front of Halt. "You need rest Halt."

"No."

"Yes. Come on you can sleep in here."

"No I have to find Will," he said distraughtly.

"Rodney's sent for Gilan. Will is going to be fine and you can't help him if you're not healthy yourself."

Tired and sore, reluctantly Halt agreed and slept.

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	6. The Crew

**I'm soooo sorry it took me so long to update but I've had tests and assignments and heaps of other stuff going on..but now it's all done soooooo the next chappie will be quicker..**

**Notice this chapter is longer...**

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**Chapter 6 – The Crew**

Will's blood froze. "Morgarath's camp?" he whispered.

"Yep." Erak said, more or less uncaring.

Will swallowed thickly. Get over the fear, he told himself, think about the important things.

"How long have I been out?" he asked slowly.

Erak squinted, thinking. "Hard to be sure. I was away at another camp for a few days, checking on some stuff and when I came back, you were here. You've been out for at least a day, I only just got back."

Will's mind was racing. From what they knew Morgarath's main camp was at least two days ride from Redmont so that meant he'd been unconscious for at _least_ three days. Then Will snapped to attention as he thought of something.

"Erak," he said urgently. "Was there anyone else here with me? A man?"

"No," he shook his head. "Not that I know."

Will relaxed a bit. At least Halt's ok, he thought, unless he's dead. No! Do not think like that. Halt is fine.

"Why are you here anyway?"

Will looked at Erak and shook his head. "Honestly, I have no idea. Some guys came to Halt, he's my mentor, and me's house and started beating me up. Then Halt came out and tried to stop them and he got beat up too." He finished.

Erak did not say anything and then Will added quietly, "I hope he's alright, it's my fault if he's badly hurt."

"Why?" Erak asked, more to make conversation than anything else.

"Because I shouldn't have let them get so close. I let my guard down for a second while I was practising and they got me."

Erak studied the boy closely. He must be pretty important if Morgarath went to the trouble of beating two guys just to get one of them. And if he dumped him in the Skandians part of the camp he must want him looked after fairly well for what he was going to do, after all it was either Skandians, Wargals or the disgusting men that supported Morgarath. Then Erak noticed the boy's clothing, the cloak that seemed to fade into the surroundings and the Oakleaf necklace.

"You're one of them Rangers aren't you?" he asked.

"I'm only an apprentice." Will replied. (A/N In that TOTALLY annoying way he does..DAMMIT WILL...YOU ARE A RANGER...APPRENTICE OR NOT..U R RANGER!! LEARN IT LOVE IT SAY IT!!!) "Why do you want to know?"

Erak shrugged, "Just wondering."

This kid is definitely important to Morgarath, especially being a Ranger. Erak shuddered to think of the hell Will was going to go through here. And there was not a thing Erak would be able to do about it.

"You must be hungry," it wasn't a question. Erak knew how hungry one could be after being unconscious for a while and he saw at the mention of food Will's eyes lit up slightly.

"Starving," he replied.

Erak stood up. "I'd better go get something to eat before the rest of my crew arrives. Otherwise there will be nothing left. You wait here and don't go wandering off anywhere. You might not come back."

Will watched Erak's burly form march purposefully from one firelight to the next until he was mixed up with all the other people and Will couldn't tell which one he was.

Now Will was alone with no one to distract him, he looked around at his surroundings. Considering that the Skandians part of the camp was not on the edge and Will lost sight of Erak so easily, it was safe to say that Morgarath's camp was massive. There were Wargals and men all around him, except for the close circumference which was empty, it was obviously for the other Skandians when they arrived from doing "stuff" as Erak so nicely put it.

Then Will saw a bunch of just-as-burly-as-Erak men making their way towards Will. "Speak of the devil," he said quietly to himself.

As they walked closer he heard a few of them say things like, "Who's that?" and, "What's he doing?"

It must be Erak's crew, Will thought. Surely enough, he was right.

"Who are you and what are you doing?" one of them asked him, almost viciously.

They must think that I'm one of Morgarath's traitors. Then he realised they were still waiting for his answer he quickly said, "I'm Will. I was brought here by...well, I don't actually know but I'm a friend, he said hurriedly. "I was tlking to Erak before but he's gone to go get food."

At the mention of Erak the entire crew seemed to soften up. The one who talked to Will sat down, sighing contently as he did so. "He'd better bring some back for us," he said and the rest of the Skandians grunted in agreement as they to placed themselves in various spots around the fire. "Name's Svengal," said the Skandian.

Just after everyone else introduced themselves Erak came back with food. Only enough for him and Will.

"I see you've met everyone then," he said to Will, handing him a bowl. Then to Svengal he asked, "How'd it go?"

Will didn't hear Svengal's reply. He didn't realise how hungry he was until Erak handed him the bowl. Without bothering to even see what was in it, he devoured it. After he had finished he looked up. Erak had finished talking with Svengal and now the two were arguing.

"I didn't know you were coming!" Erak said innocently.

"Doesn't matter. You knew we were coming sometime tonight."

"I can't carry that much though."

"You could've made two trips, or gotten the moy to help you."

"He's hurt and there's no way he could carry that much either, I'd need at least three people."

Will wondered what they were arguing about. It was obvious they were only arguing in fun, but they were arguing all the same. It wasn't until Svengal said something about being so hungry after all the work he'd done today that Will realised they were talking about food. And then he laughed.

"What's so funny?" Svengal rounded in him.

Will regained himself, still chuckling slightly he said. "You remind me of a friend of mine. He's always so hungry, and always complaining about it. Anyway, if you're that hungry, why don't you get food yourself?"

"You see?" Erak said. "The boy has brains. He agrees with me."

The argument continued until slowly the other Skandians got up and went away, then coming back with their own food. It kept on going until Svengal was the only one with nothing to eat. Will was about to mention this when Erak and Svengal stopped arguing suddenly.

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The messenger reached Gilan two days after Rodney sent it. It took another two days for him to reach Redmont and find out what was going on. All he knew was that it was urgent and Halt was injured.

He rushed Blaze through the gate, not bothering to stop because the gaurds recognised him from his apprenticeship.

"What's going on?" he asked Arald, bursting through the door once he reached it.

The Baron jumped slightly. "You scared the living daylights out of me Gilan."

"Where's Halt?" he asked, the concern clear in his eyes.

"In there." Arald gestured to where Halt was resting. "But be quiet, he's resting."

Gilan went into the room and saw the bruised and battered form of Halt sleeping.

After a while he went back out to the Baron.

"What happened?" he asked.

Arald studied him for a moment, then he told Gilan all he knew.

The Ranger was silent for a time and then, "I have to find Will."

"Yes," the Baron agreed. "I've organised a Unit to help you. Leave as soon as you can. Once Halt is better he can follow you and catch up."

"Ok."

And with that, Gilan left.

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	7. Fear

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**Chapter 7 - Fear**

_...when Erak and Svengal stopped arguing suddenly._

They looked up in Will's direction.

"Here comes trouble," Erak said quietly.

Will looked around. For the second time that night his blood ran cold with fear. Walking towards him was the same man who brought him here.

The man saw the fear in Will's eyes and grinned evilly. As he got closer he said, "You're to come with me."

Will swallowed,"Why?"

"Boss's orders."

"Morgarath?"

"Yes," and his grin became even more evil when the fear increased.

"But," Will tried to argue but the man pulled him off the ground.

"Enough questions," he said and then he half dragged a struggling Will off into the distance.

One of the Skandians broke the silence by letting out a massive belch. Then the conversations continued. A few of the Skandians felt a bit sorry for Will but generally they didn't really care. Will was just another of Morgarath's unfortunate torture victims.

After pointlessly asking some of the other Skandians to get him some food Svengal, finally, went to get his own.

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Gilan had been following the men's tracks, quite easily, for a day. The Unit that had been set up for him were travelling easy and they were making good progress. There were a few things on Gilan's mind that were bothering him, one being that he was worried about Halt. He knew Halt was as fine as one can be after being beaten up but he still worried. Another thing was that he wondered what these men wanted with Will. He had thought of a few reasons and none of them involved these men just wanting to show Will their brand new garden. There was one idea in particular that Gilan hoped to God that he was wrong. He told himself not to think about it.

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Halt woke to silence. It took him a second to remember why he was lying in Baron Arald's quarters but the second he did he felt a stab at his heart. Quicker than you could see Halt was out of bed and rushed out to the main part of Arald's quarters. No one was there. He didn't bother looking for Arald, he had to find Will.

He made his way to the stables and hurriedly pushing past a stable boy found Abelard. He would need to go back to the cabin to saddle Abelard and get provisions. Halt realised that Sir Rodney would have had to put Abelard in the stables. Rodney was one of the few people who knew Abelard's password. He had needed it when he was on a mission with Halt in the east. Halt smiled slightly at the memory of it. _That_ was a mission to remember.

As he was mounting his horse he became aware of a presence behind him. Turning he found it was the Baron. He opened his mouth to say something but Halt cut him off.

"I'm going to find Will. I don't care if you think I'm fit enough, that doesn't matter."

Arald smiled. "Of course," he said. "I just came to tell you that we've sent Gilan ahead of you. He took a Unit with him in case of any trouble. If you follow him, riding hard you should reach him in about three, maybe two days."

Halt's defiant look turned into one of gratitude. "Thankyou."

Arald nodded his understanding. Halt mounted Abelard and said his goodbye to the Baron. Just as he was about to ride off Arald spoke again. "Look after yourself Halt. And bring back that damn boy of yours."

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The man dragged Will across the camp, some men stopped what they were doing to look at the boy but most ignored him. It was not uncommon to have random, unknown people being dragged around Morgarath's camp.

When they finally stopped it was outside a large tent. Morgarath's tent, Will guessed. The man shoved an unwilling Will through the opening. The interior of the tent was fairly comfortable. It was warm, the main section was dedicated to planning war tactics and things like that. A smaller section, though no less comfortable, was obviously Morgarath's sleeping quarters. Then Will saw the man himself. Sitting on a rather cushiony looking chair was Morgarath. He was clad in black, thin and, even though he was seated, tall. His face was thin, high cheekbones and a beak of a nose, the skin pale and his receding hair, white-blonde. The look of him gave Will the shivers but quickly he got rid of any signs of fear. Men like Morgarath lived on the fear of others. Will was not going to give this man the satisfaction.

"Hello Will."

It wasn't until he spoke that Will realised it was going to be a lot harder than he thought to keep the fear away.

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	8. Fingers Like Ice

**Heres the next chappie...warning..MASSIVE CLIFFIE!!**

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**Chapter 8 - Fingers Like Ice**

The man on watch woke Gilan around midnight.

"Ranger," he said. "Something's not right."

Gilan sat up and looked around. Then he nodded his agreement. It was a quiet night, peaceful. But something, or someone, could be heard in the trees. It was big and it was moving.

"Wake the other men," Gilan ordered, whispering. "But be quiet about it. Most likely it's just a bear but you never know."

The man showed his understanding and moved to do his job.

"I'm going to go check it out." Gilan called after him. He picked up his strung bow and his quiver and made his way to where the noise was coming from. When he got within a certain distance he veered off course to get round behind whatever was making all the noise. He thought it would be best if he didn't reveal he was there unless he had too.

Using his famous skills, he silently moved through the trees. Gliding across the ground with the pattern of the shifting shadows.

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Just the name sent shivers down his spine and now here he was. Standing in front of Morgarath. Will held his head high. Then he felt a blow on the back of his head and he staggered forward a couple of steps but then quickly took the same amount back when he realised how close he was a to Morgarath.

"Answer Lord Morgarath when he speaks to you, scum."

Without turning around Will knew it was the man who originally brought him here.

"Leave," Morgarath said. "Everyone." The few people in the tent moved out except for the man. Morgarath bored his eyes into him. "You too Jason."

Will could not believe the nerve of the man who brought him here, Jason. Even after Morgarath commanded, twice, for everyone to leave, he still waited. It seemed like an eternity until Will finally felt him move. He turned to see him walk out and once he was gone, "Look at me."

Will turned around. Morgarath had swiftly moved out of his seat and was now standing at a table, pouring a drink. He took a sip and sighed contently and then sat his drink down on the table.

Morgarath took a couple of steps towards Will and it took all his self control not to step away.

"You are a Ranger's apprentice." Morgarath said at some length. "Yes?"

Will was slightly taken back by the question and just nodded.

"And you are apprenticed to..." he paused, "Halt." Morgarath said the name as if it were absolutely disgusting.

Again, Will just nodded confusedly.

Suddenly, Morgarath lashed out. Punching Will in the side of his head. Will saw stars and stumbled.

"You have _no _idea, how much I despise that man."

He kicked Will's leg out from underneath him.

"How much I _hate_ him."

Will quickly regained his feet. He was not going to let Morgarath beat him up. He would fight.

Morgarath threw another punch his way but Will ducked. He ran forward, attempting to tackle the man in front of him but he was too big. Morgarath took a few steps back from the force but then he simply threw Will off. As the apprentice stumbled back Morgarath kicked his side. Then Will felt a tight grip on his neck.

Morgarath was strangling him.

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**So that was it.....**

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	9. A Risk

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**Chapter 9 - A Risk**

"You're a feisty little bastard aren't you?" Morgarath sneered, tightening his grip. "I can see why Halt picked you for his apprentice."

Will could feel his face reddening and his heartbeat was slowly becoming louder and louder, echoing in his ears.

"Lots of spirit."

Will's head became so light, he knew he was going to be unconscious any second.

"Yes," Morgarath mused to himself. "You've definitely got spirit." He turned his words back to Will, "I'll soon fix that."

Morgarath let go and Will dropped to the ground. He gasped for air, sweet sweet air. It seemed as if there was not enough in the world for him to wheeze into his lungs.

Meanwhile, Lord Morgarath strode over to the table and sipped some more of his drink, watching Will as he coughed and gasped. He wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes and lightly felt around his neck. That incident would leave bruises, he knew.

"You know Will," Morgarath said, sitting down on his big chair. "Over the years your master has caused me quite a bit of trouble. He destroyed my dreams. All I wanted was power and respect, is that too much to ask for?"

While Morgarath was talking Will slowly got to his feet.

"He put my life in ruins and everything I had ever worked for seemed as if it never existed." Morgarath took a deep breath. "But now he is going to pay. There's no way he can stop me this time."

"He will stop you."

Morgarath turned his cold eyes onto Will once again.

"He'll stop you just like before and there is not a thing you will be able to do about it."

Will's voice was raspy but strong.

"No." Morgarath said. "I'm going to win this time and there's nothing you or Halt can do about it. Jason!" he called. After a second the blonde man came into the tent.

"Yes my Lord?"

"We're finished."

Jason grabbed Will's collar and shoved him through the tent opening. Will stumbled through it and before he could regain himself he tripped on a small stone and fell. The force of his body impacting with the ground was not enough to make Will groan but the force of the severe kick he received on the side of his leg was. Jason, who was taking any opportunity he could to inflict pain on Will, had kicked him when he fell. Then Will felt a hand on his collar, again, and Jason hauled him off the ground. Will stumbled as his throbbing leg gave way slightly, but then continued walking. If figured if he said anything to Jason about the kick it would give him satisfaction and Will was not going to let him have that.

The two marched in silence through the camp and while Jason was most likely thinking about nothing, because that was all he could handle before he started getting confused, Will was thinking about his escape.

He knew that if he stayed any longer, things would just get worse for him. What he had had tonight was only a taste of what was coming. On the way to Morgarath's tent Will had observed that between the Skandians area, on the edge of the camp, and the Wargals area there was about a ten metre gap. A divider so that each could have their own space. In the gap there really was not anything at all.

It was in this gap Will decided to act. It was not likely that a Skandian or Wargal would be looking in the direction of each other. It was not likely but it was still possible. If it did happen, Will would be caught and most likely killed but it was a chance he would have to take.

Jason was walking slightly behind Will, making sure that he was going the right way. Jason was a big man and compared to Will, who was only small, he was a giant.

Suddenly Will changed his forward direction to a backwards one and rammed his elbow into Jason's stomach who, caught by surprise as he was, stumbled back and fell.

"What the-" Jason never finished his words as Will turned around and kicked him in the head, rendering him unconscious.

Quickly, Will looked around to see if anyone saw and sighed in relief when no one called in alarm. Relieved he ran as fast as he could to the trees, not slowing down or looking back once.

He was free of Morgarath's hold. He had only been there not even for a day but that was more than enough in Will's opinion. He ran and ran but it seemed as if the trees wanted him to stay. Their sharp limbs whipped at him and dragged at his clothes. Then his foot caught on a fallen branch and he fell into the dirt, hitting his head on a rock as he did. In the moment of silence when he fell Will heard shouts and men running, also, stopping made Will realise how tired he was and he knew that he would not be able to run like he just did again. But no way was Will going to give up.

He stood, wiping some blood off his brow with the back of his hand. Hurriedly he looked around to see if there was somewhere he could hide.

Nowhere.

Then a thought hit him. The trees.

He climbed the nearest one swiftly and with ease. He was about ten metres from the top when he heard people moving, underneath the tree.

Will froze. He knew that if he moved it would give away his position. Damn, Will thought, they couldn't have come at a worse time.

One of Will's feet was securely sitting on a thick branch, the other on a tiny one that he knew, would not be able to hold him much longer. Both of Will's arms were wrapped around the tree. He thought to risk moving his foot onto the good branch with the other one, but decided against it. It was too much of a risk.

Will could hear the footsteps slowly moving from his tree to the next, he could also feel the thin branch bending underneath his foot. Carefully, Will tried to ease more of his weight onto the other leg but concentrating as much as he was on his legs, Will's arms slowly loosened around the tree. Realising his mistake Will quickly went back to his original position. That was another mistake, he moved too fast and...

The branch snapped.

* * *

Gilan could see the thing that was making all the noise. It was human and by the size, probably male. Silently Gilan took out an arrow out if his quiver and laid it on the bowstring. As he edged closer he saw that this person was in a bad way. He put the arrow back in his quiver. If this person did give Gilan any trouble, he would be able to handle it with his knives.

Slowly, not wanting to startle the man, Gilan silently moved towards him.

Then he turned around, fists up, ready to fight. When he turned around Gilan realised the man was barely more than a boy. At most he was nineteen.

"Who's there?" he asked, voice quivering.

Realising that the darkness and his cloak was keeping him out of sight, Gilan threw back his hood and stepped forward.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said reassuringly.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Again, his voice was quivering. He shook his once blonde hair out of his eyes to get a better look at Gilan.

"My name is Gilan." He took another couple of steps forward but the blonde decided that was too close and took the same amount back. In his hurry he tripped over his feet and fell back. Gilan moved forward to help him up but fear flashed in the boy's eyes and he held up his hand.

"Stay there!" He almost screamed, Gilan guessed, out of fear.

Slowly, he picked himself up. He was shaking form the effort.

"What's your name?" Gilan asked.

The boy eyed him suspiciously. "Why should I tell you?"

Gilan was taken aback by the severe question. It was obvious the boy had been through hell and back. "I'm not here to hurt you," he said again.

"But that doesn't mean you're here to help me."

Gilan thought for a moment. "To tell you the truth, I'm not here to help you. I'm looking for my friend and then I was woken by the sound of someone crashing around in the trees and, here we are."

The boy looked at Gilan. "Was I really that loud?"

Gilan nodded.

Then the boy said, "My name's Joel."

Gilan did not know what he had said to make the boy trust him but whatever it was he was gald he'd said it.

"Well Joel, why don't you come with me and we'll get you something to eat. You look like you could use some food."

Joel nodded and then regretted it as he stumbled. This time, he didn't stop Gilan from catching him.

With Joel leaning on Gilan for support, they walked back to the camp. At first, Joel was alarmed to see all the armed men but Gilan calmed his fears. Gilan sat Joel down where he had been sleeping, where he knew it was comfortable. He got something out of his pack, told Joel to make himself at home and that he would be back.

Then Gilan went to the other men, all of whom were awake now, and told them to relax and they all could g back to sleep. Gilan would take the last watch.

Gilan shoved another piece of wood on the embers of the fire and waited for it to catch, then he put some water to boil.

While he was waiting he went back over to Joel and Gilan was not surprised to see him out cold.

* * *

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	10. Joel's Story

**here's another chappie..**

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**Chapter 10 – Joel's Story**

On the second day of riding Halt estimated that he was about a day behind Gilan. Halt had been following his tracks easily but the thing that was bothering him was the direction. Gilan had been following Will's kidnappers tracks and they had been heading in a generally north-east direction. Halt was not a fool.

Araluen was at war with Morgarath.

Morgarath hated Halt more than anything in the world.

Their intelligence suggested that Morgarath's main war camp was somewhere in a forest in the north-east.

Halt could put two and two together but how he hoped that he was totally wrong. If Will was being held by Morgarath...it just didn't bear thinking about.

Halt rode all through the day, only stopping at midday to have a bite to eat and give Abelard a break. At that time Halt guessed that he only would have to ride half the night before he reached Gilan so he kept riding through the night.

It was just after midnight when Halt saw the light of a fire up ahead. He slowed his pace a bit. He was sure that it was Gilan so there was no need to hurry anymore. After a couple of minutes Halt rode into the camp.

* * *

Joel's nose twitched. He could smell something great, but that wasn't what woke him. What woke him was the sound of horse slowly marching towards him.

Slowly he sat up and saw a small man sitting on top a small horse. He watched the man as he dismounted and took off the saddle and then watched as he went searching through a pack, much like Gilan's. Then the man gave his horse some grain and water.

After this he made his way over to the fire. As he passed, Joel tensed, he did not know this man and at the moment Joel was suspicious of almost everyone. Then he relaxed when the man just walked straight passed, not appearing to notice him.

* * *

Halt noticed the boy in the shadows. Apart from Gilan, who was at the fire, he was the only one awake. He didn't say anything to him but he noticed the way he seemed to tense up, even more than he usually was, when Halt walked past.

Gilan stood up to greet his former master.

"Hello Gilan," Halt said.

Gilan nodded, "Halt. How are you?" he asked worried.

"As good as one can be under the circumstances."

Gilan sighed inwardly; Halt was never really one for words, especially when they were expressing feelings. Gilan knew how much Will meant to Halt. Their bond was past the usual master and apprentice bond. It was more like father and son.

"Any news on Will?"

Gilan shook his head sadly. "Nothing."

"Who's Will?"

Both the Rangers jumped slightly. Strangely, neither of them had noticed Joel come over.

"Who's this?" Halt asked.

"This is Joel," Gilan introduced. "Joel, meet Halt."

"And how did you come across each other?" This boy was obviously running away from wherever he came from. He was not on a good condition at all. Halt was curious as to what his story was.

"Well, the man on watch woke me, not too long ago," Gilan started. "And there was something crashing around on the trees, I went to check it out and found Joel. Brought him back here and I was just making him something to eat."

Halt nodded slowly. So Gilan doesn't know anything about him yet.

There was silence for a minute and then Gilan asked Halt, "You probably haven't eaten in a while. Do you want some stew? I've made enough."

"Thanks Gilan, I'd appreciate that."

There was silence again while Gilan served up the stew. Halt found a comfortable spot on the ground next to the fire and so did Joel.

"So," Joel started nervously. "Who's Will?"

"How about," Gilan handed Joel his bowl. "You tell us your story and then we'll say ours."

Both Rangers looked at Joel expectantly. He took a mouthful of his stew, which was surprisingly good and then looked up. He didn't trust either man in front of him but he did trust them more than most people. He didn't really know how to start so he asked them.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, for a start," Halt said. "Who exactly are you?"

"You already know that. I'm Joel."

"Yes but, why did Gilan find you in the forest? What are you scared of?"

It was then that Joel started getting defensive.

"What makes you think I'm scared of something?"

"Because when I first came in and you were watching me, yes I saw you," Halt added when he saw the look on Joel's face. "I walked past and I could see you tense up and get all nervous even though you thought I hadn't seen you."

"And," Gilan added. "When you fell, you wouldn't let me help you up even though you were obviously weak, tired and on the edge of unconsciousness."

"Well," Joel said uncomfortably. "I didn't know who you were then." He muttered.

"Why were you in those trees?" Gilan asked softly.

"I was...running away," Joel started, it was obvious that he'd never talked about this openly before.

Maybe, Halt thought, because there was no-one to talk to.

"Why?" Gilan asked.

"Let me start from the beginning."

"It's always a good starting point," Halt said.

"I was seventeen at the time. I lived in a small village near the coast. One day I went to town to get something for my mum. It was about a half a day's walk to town. On my way home I was aware of some guys who were behind me. I was aware of them but not really worried because I thought they lived in one of the closer villages. Next thing I know two of them ran up beside me and before I could do a thing they knocked me unconscious

"I woke up somewhere that, later, I found out was the Mountains of Rain and Night. Turns out Morgarath was getting his men to kidnap people that he could make his own. If you didn't agree to side with him, it was hell for you." Joel took a deep breath. "I was tortured for days. In the beginning I kept count but after a while it just all becomes a blur. You can't even tell the difference between one day and the next. There are professional torturers that work for him but occasionally you get him. And he's the worst. It's like, Morgarath blames you for making him do it and the pain is...deep. There's not a part of your body that isn't on fire. It's just..." Joel's voice broke and a tear found itself making a path over the dirt on his face.

Gilan put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"Eventually we moved out and went to his main war camp. He only took the ones he could 'have fun with' as he puts it. There was me and a few others, I don't know what happened to the rest. After a while I escaped. Someone forgot about watching me for a second and I just took the chance. I've been on the run for about eight days. I haven't eaten much but that didn't make much of a difference. I never really got fed when I was there. And so," he turned his attention mainly to Gilan, "when you found me earlier I thought you could be one of Morgarath's men."

Gilan nodded his understanding.

"You said that you lost count of how long you were there," Halt said. "But roughly, what do you think?"

Joel thought for a second. "Maybe two years, possibly three. They know how to keep you alive enough to survive but so you are almost begging for death. I'd seen others do it when I first arrived and I never thought that I would be like that but..." he trailed off.

"I'm sorry," Gilan said. "No-one should have to go through with that, ever."

Joel yawned.

"Why don't you go back over there and sleep, you'll need it for tomorrow."

"But-"

"We'll tell you about Will tomorrow, promise."

"Ok." Joel said and then handed his empty bowl to Gilan and went back to where he was sleeping.

"What do you think?" Gilan asked Halt.

"It's no wonder why he's so bloody nervous all the time. Imagine what happened to him."

"I don't think I want to."

"No-one would."

The two friends sat in silence a while longer then, "Actually Halt. I've been thinking."

"Always a problem."

"About Will."

Halt looked at his old apprentice. "Me too."

"The direction we are heading in..."

"Is the direction of where we think Morgarath's camp is." Halt finished for him.

Gilan nodded sadly. "What if he took Will?"

"Trust me Gilan, I've thought about it. And as much as we wish it wasn't true, we have to admit it's probably the most likely thing."

* * *

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	11. In The Trees

**Hope u all enjoy...sorry it took me a while too update...mum banned me from the internet but...I had lots of time to write...one chapter at a time though...**

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**Chapter 11 - In The Trees**

"What was that?!"

Will held his breath and silently hoped that they would dismiss the noise. His hopes were dashed when someone said,

"Back there! There's someone in the trees!"

Will knew the mistake that most people made was to move and as much as he just wanted to run, his training kicked in and he stayed silent and still.

He felt, rather than saw, most of the men crowd around the base of the tree.

"I can't really see anything..."

"Maybe it was just an animal?"

"Someone go up there and check."

"I'm not doing it!"

"Neither am I!"

Will could hear the mutters of the men as they looked for him. It was dark, in the middle of a forest; no-one could actually see Will and they were small minded men. Will thought it safe to say that they were nervous. Then Will began to panic when one voice rose above the others.

"I'll do it."

All the men stopped talking. Will heard as he handed his sword to someone else and started climbing.

Will held his breath.

Whether he stayed as he was or moved, Will would be seen. It was just the simple matter of deciding which option was less risky.

He looked up and around. There was a branch of another tree overlapping a branch from the one he was on, just little way above him. If Will could make it unseen and unheard he might have a chance. That decided him. A chance, no matter how dangerous, was better than no.

As silently and slowly as he could manage Will, with both feet now on the good branch since the other broke, quietly crept up a couple of feet. So grateful that he still had his Ranger cloak to help camouflage. When he reached the height he needed he carefully balanced on the branch. He needed to walk out onto it a bit until he reached the crossover. Although the branch was sturdy it was also thin, once he started Will knew he wouldn't be able to turn back.

He took the first step.

Underneath him Will could vaguely hear the laboured breathing of the volunteered man. He was obviously not used to climbing whereas Will found it as easy as walking.

Will stood up and took the first couple of steps. There was turning back now.

"Can you see anything Troy?" someone below called.

"Not yet!" was the reply. Will was startled to hear how close the man, Troy, actually was. He may not have been the quietest or most comfortable climber but he was fast.

Will just reached the other branch when he heard Troy reach his height.

Not for the first time that night, Will froze. Hoping, wishing, praying that he would not be seen.

Luck was not on his side tonight.

"I found him!" Troy's triumphant voice suonded throughout the trees.

Will took the final step onto the other branch. Now that he had been seen there was no use keeping still.

"Hey!" Troy shouted. "Stop right there, you little sneak!" Then he called down to the other men, "He's going on to the next tree!"

As fast as he could Will moved along the branch. He had no idea what he was going to do. Now that they were aware of his presence Will wouldn't be able to get to the ground.

Troy took no care about his balance as he moved across the branches. His only thought was to get Will and he needed to catch up. Being the big man he was, it didn't take him long.

Will, now in the curve of the branch and the trunk, saw no other option. He turned to fight the oncoming man.

Troy threw a punch at Will - who nimbly dodged it. Expecting to meet a resisting force but coming up against none sent Troy off balance. Will took his chance and shouldered the bigger man, hoping to send him reeling out of the tree but he regained his balance just in time. As Will rammed into him he grabbed Will's head and brought his knee up to meet the boy's face, then he let go. Dazed, Will took a step back and lost his footing.

As he fell he linked his arms around the branch. Troy kicked him in the side of the head and then stood on his hands. Will cried out in pain. When Troy moved his feet Will's hands were on fire and he just couldn't hold on.

Troy gave him a wicked smile and Will fell.

Luckily there was a branch a few feet below Will and he landed on that. As he did his head smashed back against the hard surface.

The below men watched as Will's limp form fell onto the next branch and then to the ground.

He groaned. That had hurt, a lot.

Slowly he rolled himself over onto his back and pushed back the darkness that threatened his vision.

Will couldn't move. He was sure that he had broken at least his leg in the fall. He felt blood slowly oozing from the back of his head, where he hit it. It seemed like an eternity until someone finally came over. In the state that he was in Will did not realise that it was Troy, no-one else moved.

"He's still alive," Troy called. Although he called softly Will was forced to bring his almost dead hands to his ears as the voice roared and echoed through his pounding head. "And miraculously awake!"

Slowly the rest of the men gathered round. "We'd better take him back," a voice said after a time. The loud had gone to almost dead quiet and Will was not entirely sure if it was a good or bad thing that he couldn't stand the noise one moment and could barely hear a thing the next.

Troy bent down and dragged the boy up. Will cried out as his abused body screamed in protest of the movement and his leg gave way. Roughly, though it seemed much worse than that to Will, two men began to drag him. Somewhere, something in Will's muddled mind told him to fight back and not let these people just drag him away but as soon as he attempted to struggle he instantaneously regretted it. His body weak and mind grey with haze Will gave in and let himself be taken away.

Will was in a semiconscious state as he was dragged closer and closer to the destination that held a man that he was absolutely horrified by.

Eventually Will's journey stopped and he realised he was back inside that dreaded tent and that man was standing close by.

"Who found him?" Morgarath's icy voice cut through the air like an arrow as he addressed the men.

Troy was quick to jump up. "I did, my Lord. Sneaky little brat hid in the trees, we heard him and I went up and got him. Well, he fell but that was after he started to fight me, I can say I easily won the fight, if you can call it that." Troy boasted proudly.

Morgarath nodded slowly, digesting the information. "Very well," he said. "You may leave."

"But my Lord..." Troy protested.

"But what?" Morgarath turned his cold eyes onto him once again.

Troy took one look into the eyes and withdrew his complaint. "N-nothing my L-lord."

Truth be told Troy was hoping that because he recaptured Will he would be praised and promoted but obviously Morgarath had different ideas.

Will watched the exchange lethargically but too weak to take in any of its meaning.

Once the men left Morgarath turned to Will who was slumped in a chair, slightly off to the side.

"Dear Will," he cooed. "Whatever will I do with you? Hmm? You must understand that it isn't right for you to run off like that. I'm, unfortunately, going to have to punish you for this incident. Everything bad has its consequences and what you did was extremely bad."

He paused a moment to let the words sink in.

The words came to Will through a long tunnel and echoed every step of the way. After a minute or so Morgarath saw the fear creep into Will's dark eyes. He smiled but then frowned as he saw the fear replaced by a calm determination.

"I did nothing wrong." Will said slowly, knowing his words were true. "You are in the wrong. Torturing people, taking their lives. And one day you will pay. Halt will make sure of that."

Outraged, Morgarath stepped forward and slapped Will. He had been on the brink of unconsciousness since the fall and that tiny force of pain had Will welcoming its awaiting arms.

And it granted Will that one thing.

* * *

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	12. The Story About Will

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**Chapter 12 – The Story About Will**

Halt got about two hours sleep that night. Gilan woke him just before dawn proposing that they could leave later if he wanted but Halt would hear none of it. Just because he was tired didn't mean Will should suffer.

The Unit woke not much longer after that and Gilan also woke Joel. After he did this he ordered Joel to remove his shirt so that he could look at the injuries. Gilan gasped. Covering Joel's body were numerous cuts and bruises from various tools. Gilan applied a healing salve but at the present that was all he could do.

Breakfast was small and cold before setting out once again. As each man carried his own supplies there were no spare horses, so Joel had to ride double with Gilan.

Halt, Gilan and Joel rode in front of the Unit as they were the ones doing the tracking. After a while Gilan felt Joel breath in deeply, obviously in thought.

"Something on your mind?" he asked. He couldn't see the younger male's face but he guessed it was in a frown.

"No..well, yes...but not really...I don't know..." Joel replied, totally lost.

Gilan laughed slightly. "Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't answer a question thoroughly." He paused, then asked, "Do you want to tell me about it."

There was silence for a moment until Gilan felt Joel breath in again, this time to speak.

"Speaking of telling about things...you were going to tell me about Will, were you not?"

Because that's not changing the subject at all, Gilan thought to himself.

At the mention of his lost apprentice Halt looked at Joel.

"Well?" he jabbed impatiently.

Halt sighed. Even if Gilan didn't know how Halt felt about Will, the fact that he showed outward sadness was enough for him to know just how much losing him meant.

"Will is my apprentice." Halt said finally.

Joel nodded. "And? What's the big fuss about him."

Gilan could see how painful it was for Halt to relive the moment again so he took over.

"Halt and Will live at Redmont and a couple of days ago Will was kidnapped. We don't know who by. Will was beaten and when Halt found him he was beaten as well. Halt woke up and went to the castle for the Baron's help to find him. A courier was sent to me and I left as soon as it reached me. I set out with the Unit you see now and Halt left after because he was still recovering from his beatings. Last night Halt caught up and well...here we are." Gilan finished. He noticed that sometime during his telling the story Halt dropped back to talk to the Captain of the Unit.

"Oh..." Joel said.

After that Halt rode up and joined them again and the three rode in silence. Around two hours before midday Halt and Gilan were forced to dismount and study the ground before them. Up until now there were tracks for four horses. One of the tracks was considerably more indented than the others, presumably because the horse was not only carrying the rider but Will as well.

Now though, it seemed that another two horses, coming from the opposite direction had joined them. The now six horse party had then split into two groups. Three horses went straight ahead and the other three veered off into the forest that they had been travelling alongside. The Rangers were now deciding whether to follow the forest group, the straight ahead group or split themselves into two groups and follow both. Generally Halt was against splitting your forces while tracking an unknown enemy and not knowing where you were going but this situation called for it. Gilan would take the forest tracks with Joel and half the Unit, while Halt took the road tracks with the other half.

"They are probably just trying to throw us off," Halt said. "But we can't risk not knowing. We need to know our enemy."

Before they parted Halt took Gilan aside, alone. "Keep an eye on that boy," he said.

"You don't trust him?" his first apprentice asked him, slightly surprised.

"It's not that, something's just not right."

Gilan nodded. "Ok."

Halt watched as Gilan led the half-Unit through the trees. Then he turned to his own, "Let's go," he said quietly.

* * *

**only short...I know I know...but I was bored so I just shoved it on....**

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	13. Betrayal

**so I was gonna put this up yesterday but I was considerably sidetracked as I saw HP6 which BTW was off da chain!!!!!!!**

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**Chapter 13 - Betrayal **

It wasn't the feeling that his arms felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets that woke him. Nor was it the fiery pain through his whole right leg. It was the absolute agony pounding through his head.

Slowly Will came to the realisation that he was being dragged by his arms across the ground.

That would explain the pain in my arms then, he logically thought.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was being dragged across the camp. He wasn't sure where but he decided that no longer was he to be dragged, like a broom collecting dust. He struggled to regain his footing, trying to stand up on one leg while being dragged is a hard thing to do. When he started moving was when the two men dragging him realised he was awake.

"Oi!" One said. "Quit it."

"I wanna walk..." Will's speech was slightly slurred.

The other man laughed. "Not likely. After what you did to Jason we're not takin' any chances."

"What do you mean? I only knocked him out."

"He's a clueless one ain't he?" The man on Will's left said. Then he directed his words at the prisoner. "You knocked him out but did you think about what him punishment for lettin' you do that was?" he paused to let his words sink in.

Then the other continued. "Morgarath had him skinned. He won't be lookin' after you anymore."

Will knew he should feel some sort of empathy for Jason, but that man was the reason Will was here. In truth, he was glad it happened. It seemed as if he got what he deserved. For the rest of the journey Will allowed himself to be dragged. The most he could do was try and minimise pain in his leg. He could stop himself from complaining as it dragged behind him but every now and then there would be a ditch or a rock and Will cried out. The third time this happened the man on his right commented.

"Havin' fun there?"

Will knew the question was rhetorical but he couldn't stop himself answering.

"No I am not. Are you enjoying yourself causing me pain? Do you see a rock and think 'I'll drag him over that'? If you'd just let me walk we wouldn't be having this problem."

Suddenly the man dropped Will. The other caught by surprise held on and got pulled back when he was forced to drag Will's full weight. Because the man who dropped him was on the right Will pretty much landed on his broken leg.

He screamed.

The other man let go of his left arm and Will curled into a ball trying to hold back the tears that so desperately wanted to form.

After a while the right-man bent down so he was almost face to face with Will.

"If you knew what was good for you we wouldn't be havin' this problem."

* * *

The tracks that led into the forest just kept going deeper and deeper. After a couple of hours it began to get dark and for about the third time Gilan heard Joel sighing behind him. Gilan thought of asking, once again, what the problem was but he knew he would just get the same answer as the first time he asked.

"We'd better start looking for a place to camp." Gilan called back to the half-Unit he had riding with him.

"Why don't we keep riding for a bit longer Gilan?" Joel suggested.

"Why?"

"I don't know...I just have this feeling."

"Feeling? What type of feeling?"

"I don't know," he said again. "Let's just keep riding."

Gilan shrugged. "Fine."

He had no idea what Joel was thinking but he felt he should give him a chance.

"Another hour," he said. "But that's all."

The group was all silent until half an hour later Blaze stopped still, tossed his head and neighed. It was the sign that something was wrong. Gilan halted the half-Unit and bent down to speak to his horse.

"What's the matter boy? You sense something?"

He tried to urge Blaze forwards but the pony refused. "Alright," he said giving in. "Which way would you go Blaze?"

Immediately Blaze turned around and started walking the way they had come. It was then Gilan heard the noise of a foot falling onto a stick. Looking back he saw at least half a dozen men coming forward out of the trees and without looking he knew there would be more in front of him.

The half-Unit drew their swords almost as one. Gilan swung his bow off his shoulder and silently nocked an arrow.

"What do you want?" he called to them.

"You." The voice came from behind Gilan and instantly he knew who from.

Joel.

Then Gilan felt the cold sting of metal on his throat. Joel was armed. How did I miss that before?

"I suggest," Joel said to the half-Unit. "That you all put down your weapons and surrender." As he said it one of the men came forward and took Gilan's bow, arrows and sword. Luckily, he thought, they had forgotten about his knives. That was a mistake.

"You were never tortured by Morgarath were you?" Gilan asked darkly. "You were always working for him."

"I do in fact work for Morgarath," Joel was slowly dismounting Blaze. "And I was never really _tortured_ but I was punished for failures, if that counts." Then he addressed the whole group. "Dismount." He ordered.

They did so, just as they had dropped their weapons.

Joel laughed to himself. "This was too easy," he sneered. "Make up a story to make you feel sorry for me and convince you to ride for another hour. Ha, child's play."

"What now?" Gilan asked.

"My master wants to see you."

* * *

The two men picked Will back up and continued dragging him. Eventually they reached the other side of the camp, where the river was. They dragged him downstream a bit and then stopped, dropping him again. Will gasped in pain. Once it passed he looked up and around.

The camp was further upstream a couple of hundred metres. In front of him was a tent, fairly large. Outside there was a set of chains hanging from a branch and a fire with metal...somethings sticking out of it.

One of the men walked to the entrance of the tent and said something to someone inside. Then he turned and walked back towards Will and the other man.

They picked him up again. Will thought they were going to drag him inside the tent but instead they took him to the tree with the chains. They pulled him up and clamped the shackles around his wrists. Then with evil grins they left.

Will was thankful that his feet could touch the ground although he did find it difficult to find his balance seeing as he could only stand on one leg.

He sighed.

"That's a happy sound."

A man stepped out of the tent, startling Will.

"Hello m' lovely," he said. "My name is Lukas and I will be your only company for quite some time."

Will stared at him.

Lukas walked forward until he was directly in front of Will. He was studying his new project.

"And what's your name?"

Will's first thought was, this guy is sick. There was a certain gleam in his eyes that Will did not trust one bit. Then he realised that Lukas was still waiting for his answer.

"It's Will."

"Aahh," he said. "I've been expecting you young Will." He clapped his hands together. "Let's get to it, shall we?"

"Get to what?"

"Oh, you will see."

Suddenly Will didn't want to know.

* * *

**Soooo..that was it......**

**please review!!**

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	14. Lukas

**as I was saying to Hades Krazy Daughter I dont like this chapter...I dunno why....I just dont really like it...next chapter WILL be back to Gilan and Halt...isnt the suspense just killing you??  
anyways..**

**ENJOY!!..**

**Chapter 14 – Lukas**

Lukas turned and walked towards the fire. His pale skin looked paler because of his black hair and in the light of the fire he looked almost transparent. He picked up a pair of thick leather gloves and put them on. Then he turned to where the somethings where sticking out of the fire, Will now noticed that they were metal rods that varied in size. Suddenly Will began to realise what was about to happen. Lukas seem to come to a decision and reached out a hand, grasping a fairly thick rod. It was flat on one side, really it looked more like a bat.

Lukas turned back to Will and took a few steps his way. "Do you know what I love about the heat?" he asked in his sweet sounding yet sickly voice.

When Will didn't reply he continued.

"A rod like this, without the heat, would hurt. But really it's no more than an extremely wide, heavy sword. It causes pain but really only while it's in use. But with the heat," he paused and looked admirably at the rod. "The heat makes the pain go deep. Not only does the rod do its job but the heat of it leaves pain after it has been in use. It burns."

Will looked at Lukas. "You're insane," he whispered with fear.

Lukas looked at Will. "We will see."

Then, before Will could ready himself Lukas brought the rod up and swung it at Will. It landed on his back and Will didn't even have time to cry out before another blow landed.

"I like to use the flat rods first," Lukas said before hitting Will again. "It sensitises everything so when it's time for the real stuff, everything seems a whole lot worse."

After the first two hits Will screamed but after that he was determined not to make a noise. The pain was unbelievable. Lukas continued to hit Will until the rod had gone cold.

"Had enough?" Lukas asked.

Will ignored him. Lukas took out a knife and moved forward. Will stiffened. Lukas laughed.

"Don't worry," he said. "I only want to look." He grabbed ripped off Will's cloak and then used the knife to take off his shirt. He then moved behind Will. "Look at that. Isn't it beautiful?"

Will's whole back was covered in nasty welts and burns, in two spots the rod had broken the skin and blood was dripping from the fresh wounds. Luks ran a hand over his work. Will jerked forward at the touch and in doing so put weight on his broken leg.

"Shit!" Will cried.

"Sensitive are we? Good. That means we can move on." Lukas moved back to the fire and exchanged the flat rod for one of the skinniest ones. This thin rod was curved over at the end, like a hook. "Now m' lovely," he said softly. "This one is going to hurt."

Lukas swung and Will couldn't help the scream that brought itself to his lips. It hit right across his shoulder blades and as Lukas took it away, the hooked end caught on his skin and ripped it off.

Will cried out again.

Lukas hit again and again.

"Stop!" Will screamed hopelessly. "Just stop!"

"No."

When Lukas decided Will's back had had enough, for now, he moved round to his prisoner's front. Will was breathing heavily from the pain and he just wanted it to stop.

"Now m' lovely, you've had enough?"

Will glared at the man in front of him. He was in pain. He wanted it to stop. But it would take a hell of a lot more to break his spirit.

"Not talking to me?" Lukas looked slightly offended but Will knew it was an act.

Will spat in his face.

Lukas' sick gin slowly faded and he wiped his face. "Will, you really should not have done that."

"Why?" he sarcastically. "Whether I did or didn't just spit in your face you would still torture me. It doesn't matter what I do."

Lukas nodded slowly, the fire reflecting off his perfectly black hair. "That is true m' lovely. But now I just have a reason." He smiled the same sickening smile and then went and put the rod back, this time not choosing another. He slowly took off the gloves and placed them back too. Then he walked back into the tent saying, "Goodnight my dear Will."

* * *

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	15. A Little ToDo With Horace

**kk...this is just a little bit with Horace that I came up with...I couldnt totally leave him outta the story now could I?? :D**

**ENJOY!!..**

**Chapter 15 – A Little To-Do With Our Dear Warrior Friend Horace!!**

Horace's mind was wandering. He was supposed to be listening to Sir Rodney explain battle tactics but he could not stop thinking about Will. He remembered the moment perfectly when he found out what happened.

He had gone to Sir Rodney to ask if he would be able to go and see Will for the day. As soon as he said it he saw the knight's face turn into a look of sadness.

"_I thought you had heard," he said._

"_Heard what?" Horace asked, totally confused._

"_Um," he said. "Two days ago he got kidnapped by...well, we don't know who by but they took him and beat up Halt. He came riding in late that afternoon and he wasn't good."_

"_What?" Horace couldn't believe what he was hearing. Shakily, he sat down on a chair. "What do you mean? Why?"_

"_We don't know."_

_There was silence. Horace's mind was in turmoil. All he could think of was 'why?' Who would do this?_

_Sir Rodney was thinking of something, anything he could say to lessen his student's pain._

"_I'm sorry Horace. I'd thought you heard."_

_Horace looked at him. "Where's Halt now?"_

"_He's sleeping in the Baron's quarters. I sent for Gilan as soon as I found out, he just left to find Will."_

That had been five days ago. Since, he had seen Halt but he was still basically unconscious. A couple of days ago Sir Rodney told him that Halt woken up and left to go after Gilan. In the time Horace found out and now, his mind hadn't been at rest.

Suddenly he was started out of his thoughts when his classmates began standing up and walking out of the room. Slowly he got up.

"Horace."

"Huh?" He looked around to find that it was Sir Rodney who had said his name. He motioned for Horace to go over to him.

"Yes Sir?" he asked, wondering what he could have done wrong. It must have shown because then he said,

"Don't worry. You're not in trouble. I was just wondering...how are you?"

"Um," Horace said. "Fine, I guess."

"I've noticed that you've been somewhat distracted lately. Is it because of Will?"

"Well Sir, yes. It's just, I don't know why anyone would do this and he's my best friend and I'm worried."

Inwardly, Rodney smiled sadly. Horace was still so young and in his innocent mind it probably wouldn't even occur to him that this could be because of Morgarath. In Horace's opinion no-one could be that evil.

He still had so much to learn.

"If there's anything you need or you just want someone to talk to I'm here."

"Yes Sir."

"I'm sure Will will be fine. He's got two of the best Rangers on his case."

"Yes Sir, thank you."

Horace left, his mind still not at rest. There had to be_ something _he could do ot help Will. He could go after Halt and Gilan but there was really no point. They would be perfectly fine by themselves, plus they had a Unit.

But he had to do _something_...but what?

* * *

**I'm thinking of involving Horace some more but no promises...for the moment thats it for him**

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**passion.**


	16. The Fight and After

**kk...so Im watching a repeat of JET live on [V] and Im sick..probably got pig flu..so Im at home....and sooo...Im hoping that I can update everything pretty soon...hopefully..so YAY!!**

**Just a little note to the people who read Love You To Death, thanks a heap to my loverrlii reviewers on that fic. :D**

**ENJOY!!..**

**Chapter 16 – The Fight and After**

The men of the half-Unit looked to Gilan for instruction. Slowly he nodded.

"Ok," he said to Joel. "Let's go."

Joel smirked. "Too easy," he said yet again. He pulled himself onto a spare horse and led the way. Gilan and the Unit were surrounded by his men, front, back, left and right.

There was no way they could escape but that didn't stop Gilan from racking his brains for any possible solution. They hadn't taken his knives from him which meant he still had weapons. They were outnumbered, the half-Unit had no weapons and if they were to have any chance of escaping they needed a distraction.

They rode for half an hour, then Gilan sensed something, or someone. Cautious, not wanting to alert Joel or any of the other men, he turned his head and looked into the trees. There! Something moved. Then in the shadows he saw a figure. Halt, he thought. Suddenly Gilan didn't think escaping was so hopeless.

The older Ranger was hidden in the shadows, his mottled cloak blending in with the trees surrounding him. He caught Gilan's eye briefly and they immediately came to an understanding.

Until now Gilan had been riding relatively alone but slowly he came up next to one of the men of the Unit. He caught the other man's eye. The man looked at him intently then nodded slightly.

Gilan watched as the message was silently passed throughout the group, he only hoped that Joel wasn't. The men of the half-Unit were smart enough to know not to show any sign of readiness because that would immediately alert Joel and their other capturers.

They rode on for a good fifteen minutes and nothing happened. Just when Gilan was beginning to wonder if he had imagined Halt, he heard a yell. No, many yells. And then men streamed out of the trees around them, instantly attacking.

Joel and his men, completely caught by surprise, all wore an expression of panic then began fighting back. Gilan's half of the Unit had nothing to fight with but seeing as there were now more of them than the enemy, they joined in the fight using only their feet and fists. They were going to win this fight, Gilan knew it.

Out of the corner of his eye, through the movements of the battle, he saw Joel. He was slowly trying to sneak away unnoticed. Swiftly, with that one famous movement, Gilan turned, drew his knife, pulled back his arm and then propelled it forward. Obviously, Gilan did not miss what he was aiming for. Joel fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding leg in pain. He looked up and instantly his eyes fell on Gilan and they became dripping with hate. But, Gilan saw, the hate was fuelled by something else.

Fear?

He couldn't let the Ranger take him. He had to get back to his Lord Morgarath to tell him of their failed attempt to capture Halt's other friend. He had to be informed of this, even if it did mean...punishment for the messenger.

Painfully he stood up and ran.

Gilan, not thinking the boy would actually continue trying to escape, was caught slightly off guard. But it was no matter. Gilan would easily catch up. It was then he noticed that he hadn't actually seen his former master. Gilan shrugged it off, he was sure wherever he was he had a right to be there.

Then Gilan turned his attention back to Joel. He began taking a couple of steps in his direction when the younger man stopped and Gilan saw why.

Seemingly out of nowhere a figure stepped in front of him, arrow drawn full and aimed at his chest. That fixed two of Gilan's problems.

He didn't have to go after Joel, he could help the Unit fight the other men.

And he knew where Halt was.

Knowing Halt had it under control Gilan turned and just in time for walking up behind him was one of Joel's men.

Drawing his saxe, his remaining weapon, Gilan readied himself.

The man lunged, sword aiming towards Gilan's heart.

With the reflexes he was famous for Gilan darted to the side. The man, expecting to meet some resistance, stumbled forward. Gilan stepped behind him and knocked him over, he fell sprawling. Before the man was able to react Gilan stabbed him dead.

Quickly he turned around to meet another sword swinging at his head. Dodging, again, he spun, stood, swung and stabbed. His opponent fell with a knife in his back.

Gilan looked up. The fight was over. There were over half the whole Unit standing still, a few on the ground with injuries and others, dead. The only person remaining from Joel's people was Joel himself, still being held by Halt. The young Ranger looked at his former master and Joel, hands now tied behind his back and Halt's iron grip and unwavering eyes plastered on him. Convinced it was under control Gilan walked to the nearest fallen man.

He knelt beside him to see what was wrong.

"Where are you hurt?" he asked quietly, studying the man.

The man, Gilan now saw, had been stabbed in the stomach and he already had lost too much blood too survive.

"Am I...going to die?" the man gasped out.

Gilan saw the fear in his eyes but didn't want to lie to the man. Slowly he nodded his head.

"D-don't...leave me," he pleaded.

Gilan nodded again. "I'll stay." He took out his water and poured some into the dying man's mouth to soothe the throat that he knew would feel impossibly dry. Then he took his hand and held it firmly.

In the following minutes the only sound Gilan heard was his ragged breathing.

"Do you have a family?"

The man did as much as he could to shake his head. "No. M-my wife died...in child birth...my daughter f-fell...a river...drowned......only seven..."

Gilan felt for the man. There would be no-one left to remember the man after he passed away. Then Gilan thought, I will remember him. But he realised he didn't know his name. As he drew breath to ask, the man drew his last.

* * *

**ooooohhhh..that last bit...deep. :D**

**thanks again to all my loverrlii reviewers :D**

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**passion.**


	17. Desperation

**Alrightty...I cannot say how sorry I am for taking so long to update this fic..but I had swine flu..I hope thats a good enough excuse..not really...but I did actually have it..its just not a good excuse..also for peoples who care my Merlin fic is just up..finally.. it's called _Merlin's Pain, Anhora's Game_...go read it if u wanna!!**

**Sooo...this chappie is back to Will..YAY!!...I love Will...anyways....it also is with Halt and Gilan and my brother is really really annoying me cause its 7:40pm and the mozzies are out and he keeps walking inside and out and he will not shut the door so I have to keep getting up and closing it...Im in a good mind just to lock him outside!!**

**  
name of chappie is Desperation..basically, everyones quite desperate..Will is, Halt is, Gilan is..Joel's just a bastard..**

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**Chapter 17 - Desperation**

He's sick, just absolutely _sick_, Will thought to himself. It had been hours since Lukas had left him, just hanging there, and Will hadn't been able to sleep. He could barely feel his arms because they had been up for so long, his back was throbbing, he could feel his blood running down it, he was hungry and dying of thirst but there wasn't a thing he could do about it. His broken leg was totally useless and did nothing but hurt, the other leg was exhausted from holding all his weight, his head was heaving and eyes itching for sleep.

So he was left alone with nothing but his pain and thoughts.

What if he was never found? Stuck here forever being tortured by this _sick_ person who thought it was genuinely fun to do this to people. What had he ever done to deserve this? Nothing. He was sure Halt was searching for him, he had to be. He would never leave Will, would he? What if he was still where Jason had left him? Or someone found him and didn't realise Will was missing.

The thoughts ran circles inside Will's already pounding head and they only served to make it hurt even more.

* * *

Sometime during the night Will must have dozed off because the next thing he knew he jerked awake, crying out as he accidently put weight on his broken leg. As it collapsed underneath him his arms were pulled, the chains biting into his wrists.

Will closed his eyes in pain and slowly regained his feet, foot, withholding a sob.

"Morning m' lovely," came a sickeningly cheerful voice.

Will reluctantly opened his eyes, knowing it could only be one person.

_Lukas._

He stretched his arms above his head as he strode over to Will.

"How are we feeling today?"

Will opened his mouth to insult the man but his throat was to dry, raw from screaming.

"Nothing to say to me?" he looked slightly disappointed. "That's not very nice. No matter," he flashed a cruel smirk. "We have all day together."

Lukas walked away, to the coals of the fire and Will stiffened in fear. He remembered all too well the pain from last night.

Lukas noticed the movement and smiled. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm only getting it started again. I have to cook over something right?"

* * *

"Where is Will?!" Halt practically shouted at Joel. They'd been trying to get answers out of him for nearly an hour but he wasn't saying anything.

And Halt was getting desperate.

He stepped forward and grabbed Joel's shirt, lifting him off the ground. "Just tell me where he is."

Joel looked Halt straight in the eye. "No."

Halt screamed in anger and threw the younger man down.

"You think I would tell you?" Joel sneered.

"If you don't I'll-"

Joel cut him off.

"You'll what?" he laughed. "I would rather spend a million days torture at your hands than a minute's torture at Morgarath's hands. You have no idea what he can do."

Halt stormed off angrily.

Gilan made sure Joel was secure and ran after him.

"Halt."

"I just don't know what to do Gilan," Halt looked at Gilan with pleading eyes.

Gilan had never seen Halt like this, so helpless, so unsure of what to do.

Halt continued, "It's been too long, the tracks have faded too much. We can't rely on them anymore and he's not talking and what he said...about Morgorath...what if-what if Will's-" Halt's voice broke.

Gilan laid a hand on Halt's shoulder in comfort, but Halt felt nothing. His apprentice was probably enduring the worst torture. That's if he was even still alive-NO! Don't think like that, Will _is_ alive.

The old Ranger took a deep breath and composed himself. He was going to get an answer out of Joel whether he wanted to give it to him or not.

* * *

Will watched as Lukas sat in the morning sun eating breakfast. In the light his pale face seemed to glow. After leisurely eating he stood and brushed a few bread crumbs off his chin. Will watched, almost enviously. He was so hungry and his body being so weak needed food if he had any chance of surviving. But he was only hungry. Will would eat if the food was given to him but there was no way he would ask. He wouldn't give Lukas the satisfaction. It would take a lot more than this to break Will. He was, still is, Halt's apprentice. He had been trained well.

"So m' lovely," Lukas' smooth voice startled Will out of his thoughts. "How do we want to start today?"

A cold chill hit Will as he once again remembered the night before.

* * *

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	18. Losing Hope

**thanks again for my reviews everyone!!  
****Legendary Ranger, Hades Krazy Daughter, fox, a person, flaminglake, Damian-Antaria, TayliaNinja, reading-rider, JasmineVolturi, Halt's Apprentice, jokermobile, Mossmoon, kairi loves sora, Becky Kenobi, jxr1, capnkirkfan, JEMJoyJEM, J, not here, Person, RainPelt, Captain Lindsey, YOUROCK!!, The-Sadist-Of-Them-All, ---, Leo's Katanas, jgirlbookworm, Hosen Heri, Happy Face, Vladfan4, KT, silent warrior, Miss Enthusiasimal, ranger Warrior apprentice and anyone else who reads but doesnt review THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!! **

**so. I cant remember if I actually said updating soon on the last chappie but if I did for once Im actually sticking to it...if not then maybe I shouldve!!**

**ENJOY!!..**

**Chapter 18 - Losing Hope**

_"So m' lovely," Lukas' smooth voice startled Will out of his thoughts. "How do we want to start today?"  
_

_A cold chill hit Will as he once again remembered the night before._

Lukas saw Will stiffen and briefly saw the flash of fear in his eyes before it was buried. Will was determined not to let Lukas know how much he got to him, how scared he really was.

Slowly the man walked around behind Will.

"We did some good damage yesterday, hey m' lovely?"

Will didn't answer.

Lukas sighed thoughtfully, "We're going to have a special guest today." He walked back to face the apprentice. "I think you know him well. He's your mentor."

Will's heart stopped, _what? Halt had been caught too? No, no, no, no, no, no, no..._

Lukas watched as the words sunk in, he saw Will begin to shake his head, muttering under his breath.

"Oh yes my dear Will, Joel should be back around midday with him. Also that other annoying one, what's his name?"

_No, not Gilan too. Please not him..._

"Gilan! That's the one," Lukas said triumphantly remembering the name.

Will's heart sank, he just wanted to melt away and sink into the ground. Be gone from all this torture forever...

He heard it before he felt it. Being so caught up in his thoughts Will hardly noticed Lukas get...something. It wasn't a rod, it felt different, too soft. But quite frankly Will didn't care what it was, it caused pain and it was in Lukas' hands.

And that was a bad combination, especially for Will.

* * *

This was indeed a rare occasion. Morgarath was, worried was not the word, more annoyed to say the least. But it was slightly deeper than that. After years of watching and waiting he finally had his chance to take revenge on Halt and really he had got it already, but Morgarath wanted more. He wanted to see Halt suffer at the suffering of his apprenitce and possibly his former apprentice too.

But something had gone wrong. In all the years Joel had been working for Morgarath he had never one been late, not by ten minutes, not by ten seconds. He always arrived when he said he was going to. After thinking on it for a while Morgarath did admit he expected Joel to be a little late with Halt, it was Halt after all. But this was too long. Three hours! It wasn't right.

So the Lord of Rain and Night was considerably annoyed.

"Lukas!" he yelled.

A man popped his head through the tent flaps. "My Lord?"

"Go and get me Lukas, now!"

* * *

Will was almost comatose. His head rolling from one side to the other, his arms were holding all his weight after his good leg gave way beneath him. He had just survived another of Lukas' beatings. Just.

If it had continued any longer Will would have been dead, well at least that's what he thought. Just when Will believed he wouldn't be able to go on Lukas stopped. Vaguely he remembered someone talking to him then Lukas said something along the lines of: "Be back soon m' lovely" and then left.

It was starting to get to him. The physical torture, the mental torture, the never ending worrying and being on his guard and now to add to all that Halt and Gilan could soon be enduring the same thing. No, it was all too much. Tears began to leak down Will's face, leaving tracks in the mixture of mud, blood and sweat. They would be the last tears Will cried for some time. They were tears for what had happened and what was to come.

Will was scared and his fear was beginning to blind him from his sense. And what made it even worse...

The fear was increasing.

* * *

"You sent for me my Lord?" Lukas' voice, although still smooth, was slighlty uncertain.

"Something is wrong." Morgarath's voice sharply cut through the air like an icy dagger. "Joel is not back yet."

"My Lord, perhaps he is just late?"

"You know Joel, since when is he late?"

Lukas thought for a moment. "Perhaps you a right my Lord. What do you want me to do?"

"Have you told the boy yet?"

"Yes my Lord, earlier this morning."

Morgarath's lips curled into a devious snarl. "Good, go back and tell him they have arrived. Tell him that he cannot see them and they are going through the same thing as him."

Lukas grinned evilly too.

"The thought of it will break him," Lukas sneered and Morgarath finished the thought.

"And when Halt finally sees him it will break him too."

* * *

"I can't believe you talked me into this Gilan," Halt said quietly.

The two Rangers were preparing to ride out with the Unit again, this time together.

They were riding out after Joel. After having absolutely no luck questioning the man Gilan convinced Halt to let him escape. Joel would obviously go back to Morgarath's camp and they would follow him.

Halt only hoped he wasn't too late for Will.

* * *

**kk...so that was it...I know its only short but two short chappies in a row equal one big chappie right??...anyways....I would write more but its 8min to midnight and Im slightly tired....so Im gonna go to bed now...well after I finished watching this movie....21...its good...Ive seen it before...anyways...**

**REVIEW!!**

**there will be a special shout-out to my 100th reviewer so get in there quick peoples!!**

**also to whoever didnt read the A/N on my last chappie or missed it or waa-ev...my Merlin fic is up now....'preciate if u could RRR on that too..unless u dont like Merlin then I dont really expect you to....but to Merlin lovers....its called Merlin's Pain, Anhora's Game.....crappy title hey??**

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**luv u all..**

**passion.**


	19. Escape

**I AM SSSSOOOOO SORRY!!!!!!!!!! I know it has been sssssoooooooo long!! I have no *decent* excuse..if u read my Merlin fics youll know I got really really really really really really sick..then hols started and I tried to recover, then krissy and add to that I got real lazy all adds up to not updating for a LONG time..so I am sorry..Ive been trying to upload this chappie for a few days now but everytime I do it decides to hate me and NOT WORK!! so if youre reading this...it FINALLY worked.. :D kk..so I said last chappie that 100th reviewer would get special shoutout so here it is..**

**_Congratulations to ROSE ANGEL 428!!!!!!! ur my 100th reviewer!!!! :D  
_**

**hope you all had great krissy and new years!! I did :D I got MERLIN!!!!! for krissy..yay!! :D now youve waited long enough so...as always..**

**ENJOY!!..**

**Chapter 19 - Escape**

As he was waking up Will came to the realisation he had fallen asleep, or unconscious, and Lukas still had not returned. Having rested a tiny bit combined with the slightly less depressing than usual thought of Lukas not being around gave Will a small amount of energy.

Tenderly he gathered his good leg underneath him and stood, gasping as the pressure was released from his arms. Knowing what he was about to do was going to hurt, Will braced himself. He jumped up then as he was on his way down he yanked his arms in hope that the chains might break under the extra pressure.

Luckily the chains were old with rust and they snapped easily enough. Will was allowed a brief moment of pleasure before plunging into the hard dirt.

A combination between a slightly animalistic yowl and a desperate sob was torn from his lips as his raw, aching back slammed into the ground. Instinctively he rolled off his back onto his side and curled into a foetal position, drawing in ragged gasps of air, attempting to still the pain.

After what seemed like an eternity the pain subsided and Will slumped. He had been upright for so long it was heaven to just lie down and relax for a moment. What have I ever done to deserve this? he thought. Why me? How could anyone be so cruel, so inhuman? The young apprentice sighed deeply, then instantly regretted it as the strong movement tore painfully at his bettered frame.

He gathered his strength and strung up his mental defences ready to block out the pain he knew he was about to experience. Slowly, with only one useable leg, he pushed up with his arms and hopped his good leg underneath him, and eventually he was standing. Now gasping for air and back drenched in, what Will _hoped_ was sweat, he looked around, trying to decide which way to go.

If he headed the opposite way to which he came he could be going straight to the middle of nowhere. He had no idea where he was, he would easily become lost and it was most likely there would be no civilisation until he reach the end of the forest, and he didn't know how far that was, most likely miles. The alternative was not much better. He knew there was civilisation back the way he came, if you could call it that. People, at least, but the wrong people. But he knew where to go from there.

The last option was to go across the river. It had much the same positives and negatives as heading in the opposite direction but if he crossed the river he could much easily escape without being followed. Lukas would return to find Will simply gone. No footprints.

Will nodded to himself slightly. That was the way he would go.

* * *

The two Rangers were riding a good few hundred metres ahead of the Unit. They knew that if they were to successfully track Joel the would need to be silent, a skill they had perfected. The Unit, not only had no idea how to tread carefully, but there was a whole lot of them. If Joel knew he was being followed there would be almost no hope of finding Will.

And that was not an option.

So Halt and Gilan took every precaution. While Gilan kept his eyes on the tracks, Halt's sharp eyes were searching the surround area for any signs that someone had been there. They both knew Joel was not stupid and he could lay a false trail then go off somewhere to the side, covering his tracks.

After what Halt thought was far too long the smell of fires, people and general stink drifted their way. A few more minutes and they were on the edge of a war camp, Moragarath's, they rightly assumed.

Finally, they had arrived.

Gilan turned to Halt. The older man's eyes were clearly assessing the situation.

"Morgarath's getting overconfident,'' Halt mused to himself.

"No warning guard?" Gilan guessed.

"Not a single man. I suppose he doesn't think anyone will find him here."

"Well, it's only because we followed Joel we found it."

"That's still no excuse, he should have one set up."

"Are you telling me you wish he _did_ have a warning guard set up?"

Halt faced his former apprentice with annoyance on his face. "You realise you're getting almost as bad as Will when it comes to asking questions and of course I don't want him to have a guard, though he should. His laziness will make our job a lot easier."

"My thoughts exactly, so why were you complaining?"

"I was_ not _complaining."

The tone of Halt's voice made it clear the conversation was over, though if he had still been looking at Gilan he would have noticed the corners of the younger man's mouth were slighty upturned.

"So what's the plan?"

"We can't go blundering in with only us and a Unit, we will have to send someone to Castle Araluen and inform the King, in the meantime we wait and watch."

"Where do you think Will could be?"

Halt's reply was soft, "I don't know."

* * *

**kk.....so.**

**I am giving you awsumm peoples a choice:**

**1) Will can get caught again by Lukas or someone and Halt will have to come in and save him.**

**2) Will can escape over the river as planned but over the river means in the opposite direction from Halt.  
or  
3) Will can escape over the river as planned and over the river conveniantly means in the direction of Halt.**

**please please please please please please please REVIEW!!! tell m your vote!!! :D**

**luv u all..**

**passion.**


	20. Knowing

**oh how I do love this.. :D I know Ive been terribly mean and all making you guys wait but the suspense was absolutely killing me when I was counting up the votes :D**

**option 1 - NINE VOTES  
option 2 - TWO VOTES *obv. not that popular*  
option 3 - NINE VOTES**

**BUT THEN!!!! crazywing18 reviewed and voted for...OPTION ONE!!!!! so option one was the winner. Im soz to the people who didnt get what they wanted but hopefully youll like what is to come :D**

**ENJOY!!..**

**Chapter 20 - Knowing**

Joel bowed low to his master, waiting for the impending punishment he knew was about to come. He had failed the task assigned to him, probably the most important task - second only to collecting the boy.

"I am sorry Lord Morgarath, I failed you. There is no excuse for my failure."

The Lord of Rain and Night towered over him. "Inform me what happened."

Joel recounted the events, not lifting his head or raising his eyes once. After he finished Morgarath was silent for quite some time, again, Joel barely moved an inch. Finally he broke the silence, "It seems you have not _completely _failed at your task."

For the first time since assuming his position Joel looked up. "My Lord?"

"These are _Rangers_, you fool. Did you think it was your wit and skill to thank for escaping? No. They probably_ let _you escape. And even if they didn't as soon as they knew you'd gone they would track you down. You are their only hope of finding that apprentice they hold so dearly to their hearts, you think they would let you get away just like that?"

Once informed of this Joel's mind ran quick. "Shall I send out a patrol to search for them, my lord?"

"No. Let them be, with their numbers at the moment they cannot do anything but wait and it will take time to send word back to Duncan and organise reinforcements. No, for now, just let Halt worry."

* * *

"What if he's not there?" Gilan was pacing back and forth at Halt's feet as he was slumped back against a rock. They had made camp a few hundred metres back from Morgarath's camp, close enough to go get a look when needed, but they were back enough so they couldn't be seen or heard. "What if Morgarath's taken him somewhere else? What if he didn't take him at all? What if everything Joel said was a lie? What if we..."

"Gilan!" Halt cut him off and he stopped to look at his former mentor. "First off, I _know_ it was Morgarath. I know Will is in there, not exactly where but he _is_ there. Not anywhere else. There are always 'what if...' possibilities in any situation and yes, we should try and prevent unwelcome events occuring but there is no use fretting over things that we have no control over. It achieves nothing but getting yourself and your men uptight and worried, and I know you know the more on edge you are, the more chance you have of making a drastic mistake when it counts. So just sit down and try to take your mind off things for a moment."

Gilan sighed. Halt was right, he knew, like he always was, but there was still a question eating away at him. "Halt?"

"Gilan?!"

"...Do you think he is still alive?"

Halt turned his head to look at his friend. "Oh yes, I'm sure he is. But it is _Morgarath_ we're talking about, I dread to think what he is going through."

"Why can't we just go in there and get him?"

"You know why."

And he did. They had know idea where exactly Will was, how heavily guarded he was, if they could get him out easily, and they could very well be seen, after all Rangers were not the most common sight in a war camp of Morgarath. There were just too many things against them to risk it.

As it turned out Will was currently not heavily guarded, in fact not being guarded at all. He was on the other side of the river. And he was exhausted. After half hopping, half dragging himself to the river he found himself using mainly his arms to swim across the river. It was not helpful that the actual shackles were still bound around his wrists, but there were two things he were grateful for: he could move his arms freely and the current in the river was virtually non-existent.

So his leg proved to be a major complication in his plan to escape.

Sodding wet and exhausted Will scrambled as quickly as he possibly could into the forest. He didn't know how long it would be until Lukas got back and once he did he would look for him. And he didn't have much chance once this happened. Once he started he had no idea how long he had been 'on the run' but he knew he was running out of time. He just kept moving and moving until all he knew was that he was on the other side of the river, in the forest, wet, cold, with no food, a broken leg and, frankly, little hope.

* * *

Lukas had a certain bounce in his step as he made his way back to his tent. He was whistling a low eerie tune that sent chills down the spines of people who heard it. There was something about the man that seemed...sickening. Even to the cruelest of men.

He walked happily on his way, thinking of the joy that lay ahead. What fun it would be to break the new to his lovely that his master and friend were currently 'being tortured' at the hands of Lord Mrgarath. Bringing pain to people, making..._watching _them suffer and break always gave him such a thrill. Especially when he had such a spirited soul and so much to work with.

Then Lukas stopped in his tracks and snarled. Where the hell was he?!

He knew his lovely wouldn't be able to get far so he turned on his heel and went to collect some men to help search for him.

* * *

**I know it is only short and I am soz for that but I made a promise to update tomorrow and that was almost a week ago. Ima write all tonight and get something decent down and tomorrow I really do PROMISE you will have more!!!!!**

**voting is closed for what should happen but feel free to still tell me your thoughts. :D**

**luv u all..**

**passion.**


	21. A New Little Problem

**Thanks a heap my loverrlii's who reviewed! :D now in this chappie where Lukas talks about his little potion thingo there WAS a massive awsumm speech and all this stuff but long story short I lost it and its not there anymore. so right now I am thoroughly pissed at the computer but what can ya do? so here it is, hope you like it as is. please review and as ever**

**ENJOY!..**

**Chapter 21 - A New Little Problem**

Will was lying on his back, breathing raggedly, sobbing hopelessly and clawing desperately at the shackles around his wrists.

Getting across the river had been so much harder then he thought it would be. He had pretty much been able to only use the one leg and his arms felt like lead - the shackles did not help that feeling at all. After what felt like days of clambering around the forest he finally gave in to the exhaustion, thirst, hunger and pain that had been plaguing him for who knew how long. He at least had the sense to, when he stopped and practically dropped to the ground, to find a relatively covered-with-low-bushes-area so he wouldn't be seen easily.

So there he lay, achieving nothing but making his wrists bleed, making his hands slippery with blood. Not being able to free himself was as if he had not _really_ escaped, that he was still with Lukas.

As distracted and exhausted he was something managed to break through to his muddled mind. He tried to calm himself down, breathing deeply, though trying to without too much movement of his battered chest. He tried to think. Something wasn't right, there was something...something, there!

A footstep.

Will stiffened immediately. Footsteps of more than one man, at least four, heading his way. He tried, as quietly as possible, to roll onto his side and pull his cloak over him. He almost gasped out in pained but stopped himself at the last second.

He squeezed his eyes shut and bit his bottom lip, all of a sudden his breathing sounded like the loudest thing in the forest. He listened in fear as a person, probably a big male by the sound of the steps, walked carefully past his hiding spot.

A minute passed...

Will slowly eased his head up to se if the man had properly left. But his relief was short lived. _Never move to quickly. There is always a last man, always wait for the last man. _Halt's voice rang through his pounding head just seconds too late. He quickly tried to get back down into his hiding spot but a cold hand on the back of his collar stopped him, and a voice chilled his spine.

"Hello m' lovely."

Will struggled vehermently. The dread and hysteria set in and he tried anything and everything to get away from Lukas. He yelled and kicked and screamed and sobbed and punched and pleaded but all to no avail.

With a blow to the head Lukas forced him into a semiconscious state. From then he was watching events unfold through a misty pane and he was disconnected from everything.

He possessed no energy to even moan as he was roughly hurled over the shoulder of someone. At some point his hands were bound in scratchy, thick rope and he somehow managed to lose his cloak.

Though, in the state he was, he was disconnected from his surroundings he managed to be relieved when, finally, the fog overpowered him and darkness consumed.

* * *

When Will woke it was dark, and cold and he became even colder when he realised he was back at Lukas' camp.

His arms were not strung up like they had been before, though they were still bound. He found he could move freely, well, as freely as one can with a broken leg and multiple lacerations and bruises and he wondered why, after escaping somewhat successfully, Lukas had just...left him.

Somewhat successfully...

His thoughts caught on those two words. More like, epic failure. He had been caught, _again_. There was no sign of Lukas around, Will couldn't even hear him moving around in his tent. No, it would be too easy. To escape again? So soon? There had to be something else... He turned his head to look around and found he was right. There _was _something else.

He couldn't move his limbs. No matter how hard he willed his hand to clench, his toes to wriggle or his muscles to even twitch, there was no movement.

Then panic set in once again, what had Lukas done to him? Why couldn't he move? Was it magic? No, there's no such thing, even Halt said so. There had to be a logical explanation...he just didn't know what. His breathing increased.

Then, Lukas silently stepped out of the tent. Will was so worried about his personal state that he failed to noticed until his captor was literally in front of him, knees bent and head bowed to, almost, reach Will's ground level.

"You're awake, m' lovely," he crooned stroking Will's blood and dirt matted hair.

Will tried to shake his hand off but as he should have expected, no response from his body. He tried, instead, for a forceful command of 'Get your hand off me!' but it reached both his and Lukas' ears as barely a cracking whisper.

Lukas chuckled cheerfuly. "Dear Will, no doubt you are wondering what on earth is wrong with you." It was not a question but a knowing statement. "A small concoction I stumbled upon a few years ago. A few drops and the victim is rendered helpless, unable to move at first. But the more you are given, the more you become addicted and give in, you start to be able to move again. It usually takes a lengthy period of time, depending on how long it takes one to simply give in. I only use it in special cases, such as yourself, m' lovely."

"You're sick," Will said.

"My, my you are a little ungrateful aren't you?" Then his voice turned dark. "I suggest you change your attitude, m' lovely, things could be going much worse for you." Lukas stood and walked back into his tent.

Will didn't see him again. It rained that night, wind blew viciously and water came down in buckets. After what seemed like hours Will passed out, but not before discovering that though he had no control over his limbs, he was still able to shiver violently.

* * *

**so in the original version of this chapter from where Lukas explains the potion thingo there was a lot more content until the end. at least 700 more words but this is hurriedly redone and I really wanted to get this up. so sorry if it disappoints but please do review and tell me what you think. **

**luv u all..**

**passion.**


	22. Distress

**Hello my ever so loverrlis! :D how are we all today? Good, good... ok. Halt may seem a bit OOC in this chappie but cmon. His son-like figure has been captured by his worst enemy, I think he is allowed to lose it a bit. Also when he has his little, well, big ranty thing there isn't much description on what hes doing, totlly intended. Take it as you will, interpret how you want. He can be screaming *though thats probably not the brightest idea as they are so close to Morgys camp*, he can be crying, he can be standing on his head. I just felt that because it is such an intense moment I didn't want to say that this is how it should go. We all think of Halt in different ways so really just take it as you will. **

**AND**

**As ALWAYS! Thank you my loverrlis for reviewing your ever so loverrli reviews! I always LOVE to know what your thoughts are, whether they be good or bad and I am freaken over the moon with the response I got from the last chappie! I know I don't deserve anywhere near that many reviews for one chapter considering the amount of time between updates and I really do appreciate every word of them! *who knew that putting Will in a little bit more strife would get such a good response! :D* hopefully this chappie doesn't disappoint *we find out that Gil is a little bit of a pyro in this chappie ;D* and as always..**

**ENJOY!..**

**Chapter 22 - Distress**

Fire amazed Gilan, it always had. He was dumbfounded by its ability to appear so graceful, yet angry. It always seemed to catch his eye and once it had his attention he was helpless to do anything but gaze into the flames as they danced around each other while others wove together, merging as one; all the time they seemed to want to escape the small pit they were in, each individual flame wanting to leap higher and higher to freedom. Fire was a prisoner, unable to break free from its dead wood confinements. Fire would take any chance to break free, to run wild and spread over everything in its wake. Existing off the life it destroyed, considering nothing and no one but itself, like living things its first instinct was survival. In a way it was a living thing. It needed nutrients to survive, needed to breathe air to exist and it was easily killed if one knew the right way, because it could be stubborn and simply refuse to die. In a way fire was a lot like people and Gilan truly wondered at the amazing similarities. It was an odd thing fire.

Gilan was thinking about all these things when a man blundered into the camp full canter. There was no need to be alarmed as the sentry would not have let him in if he were a threat, but that never stopped his Ranger training kicking in. He looked up to fin it was the soldier they had sent back to King Duncan with information. As Gilan stood he observed the soldier, taking in his heavily breathing horse and the soldiers exhaustion – the man had been in a hurry.

"What's the news?"

"King Duncan wishes you to move out immediately and meet him at Castle Araluen."

Gilan's first thought was that Halt would not be happy, at all. "Why? Did he say?"

The soldier shook his head, "Only that everyone was needed immediately."

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, thinking, then he looked around and placed his hands on his hips. "Alright," he muttered to himself, then raised his voice. "Ok everybody, pack up. Orders are to go to Castle Araluen. Be ready to leave within the hour, we go when I return," he then readdressed the man before him. "You take care of things here, I'll be back in a while."

The soldier nodded once as an informal salute, "Sir."

Gilan swept up his previously abandoned cloak near the fire and began heading away from the camp. He picked his way through the trees, towards where he knew Halt would be.

It took a little while to get through the thick vegetation but eventually he saw the place where Halt would be. Obviously the old Ranger was not visible due to the distance and especially due to the fact he was keeping an eye on Morgarath's camp for any major changes. Halt did not want to be seen, therefore he was practically invisible. Once Gilan, finally, reached the area he spotted Halt leaning back against a tree, almost perfectly camouflaged in his cloak, even to Gilan's trained eye.

The only movement was a smooth action of Halt's right hand and as Gilan edged closer he could hear the faint ring of steel. His eyes were glued, glaring daggers at Morgarath's camp, _if only looks were able to kill_, Gilan thought. He didn't even look up as Gilan took a seat next to him, observing as Halt sharpened his saxe knife with a softness so as not to be too loud but there was definitely an underlying fury, the reason for his movements.

"I'll tell you this much: Morgarath certainly knows how to pick a hidden camp site. No one would think he could be bothered getting a full scale army or wargals through a forest this thick!" Gilan attempted to lighten the mood.

For a moment the sharpening of the saxe knife was all that was heard, ten Halt answered curtly, "What are you doing here, Gilan?" Halt's abrupt manner seemed shorter than usual, his voice was almost devoid of any emotion. "You are _supposed_ to be keeping an eye on our own camp."

The younger Ranger sighed. "Our man came back with orders from Duncan."

"And?"

"And...well he wants us at Castle Araluen right away," Gilan thought it better to skip straight to the point rather than dillydally around it, he knew Halt hated that.

Halt's hand slipped as his saxe was sharpened and he sliced his finger, blood instantly spilling from the cut. "Damn!" he cursed.

Gilan eyed him warily, "The men are packing up now, we are to leave within the hour."

Halt didn't answer immediately. "Off you go then."

"You have to come, Halt," Gilan sighed, he knew it would come to this. "King's orders."

"I am not going anywhere. I will stay by myself if I have to." There was a snappiness to each word and a tone that meant 'no arguments' but Gilan pursued.

"Halt-"

"I'm not leaving him."

"Look, Halt, I want to know Will is safe too, I want him back with us, out of harm's way – but we don't even know for certain if he is here! We are basically guessing for that, he could be on his way to the Mountains of Rain and Night for all we know; and even if he is here there's nothing we can do at the moment."

Halt was silent.

"Halt?" Gilan expected a reaction, at _least_ a death stare. "Say something..."

"You're right, Gilan, there is nothing we can do."

Gilan's knowledge of his former master was not wrong, he didn't just get a reaction but was about to receive an explosion.

"Not a single thing that I could do for him now while I wait. But he is in there somewhere, I _know_ it and if Morgarath knows who he is, if he is a Ranger or even if he has anything to do with a Ranger we can't begin to imagine what sick things are happening to that boy! Whether it is helping or not I really do not care, I am staying right here. I will not abandon him, Gil, I just will not do it."

By this time Halt was facing Gilan and the younger man looked into Halt's eyes, brimmed with sincerity and loss.

And guilt.

Halt wore an expression Gilan had never seen in the long years he had known him and that was all he needed to ask Halt a question that he clearly needed to ask long ago. "What's wrong, Halt?"

Halt turned away and closed his eyes. "What do you _think_ is wrong? We sit here, day after day after day, twiddling our thumbs, _wondering_ what is going on in there, _hoping_ that Will is fine. When are we going to _do_ something? He's not yet sixteen and some of the things he has already seen and done would be enough to break a grown man. Morgarath is merciless and bloodthirsty and insane with rage and revenge. Will should be in Redmont, at home, complaining about having to beat the rug for the fourth time today, not in there going through God only knows what!

"I know it is ridiculous to think but I can't help but blame it on myself either. I mean, the one time I let someone get away and look what happens! This business with the bastard should have been finished long ago, it should have been finished _sixteen years ago_, before Will was even born. But Morgarath got away and I let him go, I didn't follow him into the Mountains, I just let him linger, growing stronger and stronger with each passing day. I'm not blaming myself for what happened to Will but there is no denying that this could have been stopped, _I_ could have prevented it! I always knew Morgarath would come back for revenge but never in a million years did I think anything like this would happen. That boy is my life, Gil, disobeying Duncan or not, I am not going to leave him alone, even if only for my own peace of mind."

Gilan observed Halt, taking in his shaggier than normal hair and baggy eyes. He seemed to stoop as he sat, as if he had a weight on his shoulders and it was at this point Gilan realised how much Will meant to his former master. Will was the light in Halt's life. The life of a Ranger was almost lonely, as you were feared by most people and others only called on you when needed. Halt, more often than not grimfaced, pretended to enjoy the loneliness, but everyone who really knew him knew that he was like a puppy, just wanting to be loved. And he found everything he needed in Will. They were opposites in so many ways, Will smiled, Halt frowned; Will laughed, Halt grunted; Will was open, Halt was closed up; Will was always there, Halt seemed to fade away all the time; Will was always happy but Halt was cynical...the list went on.

But their fierce passion for everything they did brought them together. They fought for what they believed in, to protect and stand up for people, they loved doing what they did, both completely unselfish and never once complained and their loyalty to each other and anyone else they even knew was insurmountable.

But orders were orders. He knew Halt may hate him at first but eventually he would see sense.

* * *

**a liiiittle bit of a cliffie but I am in need of your assistance! I dont want REALLY Gil to get physical with Halt but of anyone has any ideas on how to get Halt *the stubborn bastard ;D* to go with Gilan it would be appreciated. cant really update again til I have that bit done so review, PM, hunt me down and scream it in my face I really dont mind but ideas would be GREAT! **

**as ever, luv u all..**

**passion.**


	23. Moving On

**I know I know REALLY short but its all I can do atm because in the next chapter quite a bit of time has passed. thank you all for my reviews! Im currently sitting on 195 so if you want to be the 200th get in there quick! thats about all I have to say so as always..**

**ENJOY!..**

**Chapter 23 - Moving On**

The large table was a mess of war plans, battle tactics, maps, markers and numbers; Gilan was taking barely any of it in. He was standing a way back from the table observing Halt. The older Ranger was half-heartedly discussing the pros and cons of having a Unit or so come onto the Plains from the north, arond the coastline side of the Thorntree Forest.

It had been four days since leaving the small camp near Morgarath; three and a half days riding and now organising a war.

Halt had been determined to stay, he thought...

_"But you have to go Halt!"_

_The senior Ranger turned on him, "I don't _have _to do anything."_

_Gilan opened his mouth to argue but Halt cut him off angrily._

_"And don't you give me any of that stuff about how it is my duty Gil. Don't you think I've given enough for this country? Over twenty years I have been roaming and wandering a lonely life for the good of this country and its people. I have lived through one war with this maniac already and I really think in these circumstances I deserve to take a break and do what I think needs to be done, which in this case, is staying right here."_

_Gilan sighed. "Look Halt, I know how badly you want to stay here but just think about it reasonably. _If _you stayed here you would be by yourself, _if _the opportunity arose to get to Will you would have no backup or support and even with your skill and experience you would almost certainly get caught. And _if _somehow, you managed to get in alive and unseen you don't know what condition Will will be in, you might not be able to get him out on your own. There is too much left to chance Halt and it's not worth the risk," he saw Halt about to argue some more, but this time he jumped in first. "How do you think Will would feel if you went in to save him, all by yourself, were caught and killed or tortured. Imagine what that boy would put himself through..." he paused. "Much the same of what you are putting yourself through now, do you really want that?"_

_There was silence and Gilan began to feel a small burst of triumph, he knew, even before Halt said anything, that, somehow, he had gotten through to his former master._

_And then Halt sighed. "Damn you, Gil," he stood. "I think I'm getting too predictable, either that or you have spent way too much time with me over the years," he grumbled and walked off._

_Gilan smiled, Halt was right, five or so years of his apprenticeship plus the years after they had been friends, Gilan knew Halt too well..._

Halt, he would admit, was taking it all much better than he expected. He had been prepared for Halt to sulk all the way to Castle Araluen, then have a big outburst at King Duncan for ordering him to leave, luckily however, and surprisingly, though Halt was very quiet on the trip, he didn't seem to sulk and he greeted his King as anyone else would, but with a little more familiarity; they had been friends for years after all.

It was evident that Halt was far from all right but considering, he didn't seem to be too bad. He smiled slightly and began to think that maybe, just maybe, everything would turn out all right.

* * *

Hours? Days? Weeks? Months?

Will had no idea how long it had been since Lukas had left him. Everything was a blur.

He was so numb. He wished he could be hot or cold or hungry or thirsty but he was not, he was simply numb. There was no other way to explain it, he couldn't feel anything. Try as he might he couldn't move, whether from the drug Lukas had given him or lack of energy it was difficult to tell. He knew he should be shivering from the cold, after the night he had spent in the pelting rain and vicious wind, maybe was _was_ shivering. He really just had no idea. All he knew was that he wanted out. If that meant being saved or simply closing his eyes and not opening them again he didn't care, as long as he got away from this maniac and this war and pain and turmoil.

It was all too hard...

* * *

**told you it was short :/**

**as I said...REVIEW!**

**luv u all..**

**passion.**


	24. Progress

**ok peeps. so now we can carry on and actually get this story going somewhere instead of just staying at the same place. it had actually been so long since I even glanced at this fic *poor thing* that I had completely forgotten I wrote all the first stuff about dear Willikins and then my friend had read all to where I had written and wanted more so I started writing her more in english and then I came to upload and found this stuff so this is a bit of a colab. of old stuff and new stuff. I cannot express just how sorry I am for the delay, I know you all hate me and would gladly kill me but the fact is if you want more I must stay breathing lol. love you all loads.**

**and it was like lasy tear when I wrote that ^^^^^^^^ sos I is VERY soz for the lateness, BUT Ive already got the next chapter written so that wont be long ^_^**

**I SIMPLY MUST DEDICATE THIS CHAPPIE TO MY AWESOME FREAKEN COOL AFORE-MENTIONED FRIEND. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! SHE GOT ME WRITING THIS AGAIN AND WHENEVER A CONVO ABOUT CAME UP SHE WOULD GLARE HORRIBLY AT ME, MAKING ME FEEL ALL GUILTY COZ I HADNT UPDATED! SO THANK YOU FOR THE GLARING GIRL ;)**

**to my reviewers, thank you all, you all know how much I love you and yeah..love you always. and as always please do try to**

**ENJOY!..**

**Chapter 24 - Progress.**

There was no pin-pointable moment, no exact second in time to tell when Will's spirit broke; it was more of a gradual thing.

Everyday Lukas would emerge out of his tent to give Will some water, more drugs and on occasion, half a mouthful of mouldy bread. Accompanied with the meagre sustenance was always one of their 'lovely little chats' as Lukas referred to them.

The physical torture had basically stopped since Will's inability to move, but he was still in no better shape then before, most likely worse due to the fact he had not had any treatment. Now his torutre was more of psychological. Everytime Lukas addressed Will he'd use possesive terms, calling Will his lovely and in general...his. He would drone on and on for near hours about nothing in particular though this in itself was not torture, but Will being incapable of physically reacting more than turning his head was incredibly frustrating. After days Will found himself too mentally exhausted and defeated to even spit out an insult and eventually it became too much to even glare at the bastard.

Every minute his thoughts were on how much he wanted nothing more than to be able to wipe the matted hair off his face - to be able to _move_.

With each day crawling by he felt his spirit begin to dampen, his hope begin to fade and somewhere in between Lukas' visits and his thoughts to himself he found his wish to move again had begun to turn into a strong need for more of the dreaded drug. The second he realised what was happening he used everything he had to not think like that, to stop the need and think about other things. But it was no use.

He was broken and torn. He wanted to be able to move again and if that meant giving in to the drug then maybe, just maybe...

Over days? Weeks? He very slowly regained feeling in his limbs and body until he could eventually twitch a finger, clench his toes or bend his arm, and he hated himself more and more.

Part of him tried to make it seem like it was all right by saying that because he could move he was gaining strength, but deep inside he knew that was not the case, it was the opposite. He was getting weaker, maybe not physically, but mentally. The fact that he could move already was proof that he had broken and given in, as much as he tried to deny it he knew it to be true.

During a talk with Lukas, the man mentioned that Will was exceeding his highest expectations by not giving in, then in a cheerful tone he added that he was not to worry. Lukas was a patient man and he _would_ break eventually. Little did he know that by that time Will had broken at least a week ago.

Broken as he was though, he was smart enough not to let Lukas know he could move, and just how much. When he was confident enough, during the dead of night, Will gathered all the strength he had and attempted to move around for the first time in God only knows when.

He started by, as quietly as he possibly could, rolling himself onto his stomach and dragging himself to the nearest tree. He used the rough bark to pull himself to his feet, well, foot. He felt tremendous strain on his muscles as he used them for the first time in so long. He didn't even think about putting any kind of weight at all on his bad leg. As soon as he started to feeling again, the first thing he felt was his throbbing limb. A panic set in when he felt it. He was sure that after being completely still for so long that his leg had probably begun to mend itself, but because it had not been set it was probably mending itself in the wrong way. Could be a slight problem later on, Will thought, if there is a later on.

Simply standing up was enough for one night, he decided. He slowly dragged himself beck to where he had been lying, and made sure he was in the exact same position, so that Lukas would never know. Each night for about a week more he would do the same, until he felt strong enough to move around a little bit more.

Every time he felt ready he would go a bit further, though never wanting to strain himself, or ruin what little strength he had. His Ranger training had taught him the importance of keeping physically fit, but also to pace himself. He knew there would be consequences if he pushed himself too hard and he didn't really want that, so he took it nice and slow, even though every fibre of his being wanted him to run faster than anyone ever had, and get the hell away.

* * *

Crowley massaged his forehead with one hand and sighed. Organising a war was down right annoying, he had decided. The King had begun moving the army to the Plains of Uthal almost a week ago and it had only just finished arriving. Now, Duncan was out with his major commanders seeing that everything was in order. Crowley had sent out Halt with three other senior Rangers to keep an eye on Morgarath's oncoming army, every day or so one of them would come back with news about how far away they were, how many men and wargals he had and asked how things back at the Plains were going. Surprisingly, everything seemed to be alright, everything was, so far, going to plan. It was all fitting together just fine which made Crowley smirk. _Take that Morgarath_, he thought bitterly. They were going to win this war, nice and clean. Because there was nothing war-wise to really stress about Crowley was almost constantly worrying about Halt, and Will.

The grey-bearded Ranger was Crowley's oldest and closest friend and he hated, absolutely _hated_ denying him to look for Will, but it had to be done. There was just too much to do and everyone knew that Araluen had no chance of winning this war without Halt. When it came to wars against Morgarath, Halt was somewhat of a worshipped expert.

Halt wanted to hate him, he knew. Halt wanted to hate the king, and everyone else who denied his wishes to rescue Will. But Crowley knew that Halt knew what was right, and whether it was fair or not was completely beside the point.

The Corp commandant sighed for the second time, he hated Morgarath even more that he thought possible for what he put Halt through. Crowley was going to be very glad when this was all over.

* * *

**ok, not the best chappie, not too much going on but the next chapter will make you all smile. I PROMISE! IF YOU ALL DIED AFTER YOU READ THE NEXT CHAPTER, YOU ALL SHALL DIE HAPPY! apart from the obvious bit of Will-angst/hurt the next chappie is a GOOD one!**

**luv u all..**

**passion.**


	25. Something To Do With Smiles

**w00t. all of a whole hour and 36 minutes after the last chappie was put up, I update AGAIN! I told you it wouldnt be long! :P also dont ask me why Gil is going for a run instead of taking Blaze which woulda been so much faster, basically because I wanted him to trip and for no other reason so do not criticise that fact please or shall be mean to you in some way somehow... o_O**

**WARNING: the scene with Gil will make you smile, possibly even SQUEE a little.. ;)**

**Chapter 25 - I DON'T HAVE A NAME FOR THIS BUT IT WILL HOPEFULLY MAKE YOU SMILE A LITTLE!**

Being at war was different to what Horace had expected it to be. Sir Rodney had chosen him to be his shield man, on his left side and so far he hadn't really had to do anything. There had been a few back and forth skirmishes between the front lines of each army over the past two weeks or so and Sir Rodney was not in the front line of the army, but in the second line of the command party. There was a little bit of a difference. Because Horace hadn't really had much to do it left him time to think. And still fresh on his mind was Will. He was worried. It had been so long!

Upon arriving at the Plains Sir Rodney had gone straight into a meeting with King Duncan's war counsellors. After, Sir Rodney and most of the others left to go about their business and Horace was left almost alone with Halt.

_'I'm really sorry.' _He had said. Halt kind of grunted in return and Horace took it as a grunt of gratitude. They had seen each other since and Halt had seemed less talkative each time, which worried Horace. He knew that Halt cared for Will deeply, and Will reciprocated, but Horace must have misjudged just how much the older Ranger cared for his friend.

Horace hoped so badly that Will was safe, and that he could be found soon, it would be good, for everybody's sake.

* * *

It had been over a month since Will had been taken. There had been around two weeks between Will being taken and the mess with Joel, and then a further two weeks since King Duncan's army had fully been set up. And now, over a month from Will being kidnapped in the first place Gilan had news, good, good, _good_ news. Halt. No, Halt wasn't the news, he needed to find Halt to tell him the news. That's why he was running to where Halt was, out keeping an eye on Morgarath's army with some other Rangers. Gilan was running _fast _because he had news! In all his excitement, Gilan – the best unseen and silent mover in the whole of the Ranger Corp, light and steady on his feet – stumbled. He landed on the ground with a sharp 'huff', but instantly pushed himself back up and continued on his course.

He saw Halt up ahead. By himself, why was he by himself, who cared. He was there, standing as still as stone, looking out towards...something. Gilan really did not care - at all. Gil called out to him. 'Halt!' The young Ranger almost leapt at the sight of his grim former master. His grim former master who had been even more grim for the past few weeks, who had been in so much emotional pain, and who had been carrying out his duty all the while – and Gilan had good, good, _good_ news that would help to lessen a bit of that pain.

'Halt!' he called again.

The senior Ranger spun to face the man pelting towards him with a huge grin plastered on his youthful face.

'What are you so happy about?' Halt asked, as Gilan came to a standstill before him.

'Halt...news...good news...Morgarath...Will...camp...' Gilan said in between gasps for air. Halt couldn't quite tell if Gilan needed to breathe because of the run, or his excitement.

'Get to the point, Gilan, tell me what it is.'

Gilan allowed no more time for breathing before jumping straight into it.

'I've just come from a meeting with the king and we were discussing how many men we've lost just from these small skirmishes and battles between the front lines. Arald mentioned that Morgarath must either have lots of supplies or completely bluffing the thing out for him to have held out for this long, and it looks like longer still-'

Halt sighed, 'Yes, I know all of this, Gil, what's the point?'

'I'm getting to it! So, we then started talking about destroying his supplies, the majority of which would be held at his war camp. The original plan was that a small group of men were going to be sent to destroy them and that was that... But then my father suggested that a larger group go and have get rid of the men there! At the camp there would not only be supplies, but weapons and all of Morgarath's remaining men. Lots of men, with weapons, does not sound the best idea _but_ they would be completely unprepared! So the plan is to draw out the main force here on the Plains, and launch a full scale battle, Morgarath would be focused on the here and now. Then, a group of us would just slip away and launch the attack at the war camp, Morgarath was smart enough to hide it in a forest but it is relatively easy access for us now we know where it is. We go, kill as many as possible, destroy what we can and then come back and join the fight. Without the main supplies and backup men Morgarath would only be able to hold out for a week, maybe two, and then we can defeat him for good!'

'That's great news, Gilan,' Halt didn't sound all too enthused.

Gilan shook his head, 'No, you don't get it, Halt. You and me, us, _we_ are going to lead the attack on Morgarath's war camp,' he paused for a moment to see if Halt understood, and saw the faintest glimmer of repressed hope in Halt's eyes. He did not think it could be true but Gilan was about to tell him otherwise... 'It'll take a few days, maybe even a week to organise the men and get a plan sorted but we go there, Halt, and we can find Will!' Gilan almost shouted.

Halt didn't smile, barely showed any emotion. Simply and quietly he addressed Gilan, 'Well then, I suppose we should start organising some men.'

Gilan's smile became even wider. Just the simplicity of Halt's reaction was enough to tell him that he was happy, glad, over the moon!

* * *

'I heard you last night, m' lovely.' Lukas was sitting on the ground next to the 'immobile' Will, having his daily chat.

Will tried not to panic, tried not to show any emotion. Lukas couldn't mean that he heard Will _moving _around last night, could he? No. He couldn't! Will was always dead quiet and waited until he was asleep and no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, _no_!

'I know what you must be thinking, '_how could he know?_' well, m' lovely, I have been aware of your little night routines for quite some time now. And might I say, I think you are much stronger than you were when you started.'

Will could not believe his ears. Nothing. Lukas had said _nothing _about knowing previously and suddenly he knew everything? It was like he wanted Will to have some hope only so he could have the pleasure of crushing it.

And oh he did crush it.

Still, Will tried not to react. Maybe he could bluff it...

'Got nothing to say, huh? Well, let me just see if this makes you want to talk.' Before Will could even bat an eyelid Lukas lashed out an arm, leaning it on Will's bad leg.

The young Ranger screamed out in complete agony, and tried to sit up and get away from the pain, but Lukas kept hold of his leg and Will had no coice but to stay where he was. He tried to look at Lukas but tears blurred his vision. He knew what expression would be present on Lukas' face anyway; a sadistically, happy smirk, possibly even a grin.

Slowly the pain in Will's leg died down to what he called the 'normal standard' and Will reaslied Lukas was not near him anymore.

'You can try to run away now,' Lukas stated from behind him, 'but with me so close, and you on only one leg I doubt it'll do you much good.'

Even if Will's leg was able to withstand his weight, he was just too exhausted to run. Physically and mentally and emotionally exhausted.

He had completely lost hope that anyone was going to find him, or if they even cared. As strange and wrong as it was Lukas seemed to be the only person who cared about him, not in a loving way, of course, but at least he seemed to take some interest in Will.

And Will knew exactly how bad that was, which meant he knew exactly how mentally unstable he was, and he did not like it at all.

Will lied on the ground, breathin sharply as Lukas worked away behind him doing...something. When he was finished he stood above Will and looked down at him. 'I really don't like it when you lie to me, m' lovely. It is not very nice. And now that you are able to move again, I am afraid I will have to restrain you.'

Lukas bent over and, none to softly, hooked his hands under Will's arms. He half dragged, half carried him over to a tree, a different one to the one he was at when he first arrived, this one was further into the tree line. Lukas dropped Will when they got there, picked up a length of rope and said, 'I know you won't be very helpful to me at the moment, m' lovely, and stand for me while I tie you up, will you?'

Will did not answer the ridiculous question.

'I thought not.' Lukas sighed regrtfully. He grabbed Will's hand and tied them together, very tightly, then he threw the loose end of the rope over a branch and with incredible strength that Will had no idea the man possessed, Lukas yanked down on the rope, suddenly lifting Will's arms over his head, then his body off the ground and up until his toes were so very barely touching the ground.

Will yelped and gasped in pain through the whole process.

Lukas tied the rope off to somwhere behind Will, he wasn't sure where, and then came around to face him.

'There,' he smiled. 'All better, now you won't be able to try and leave me.'

Will could already feel the immense strain on his shoulders and the scabbed welts on the back were burning. Since he had been able to move and feel again Will had no doubts that his back was in terrible shape, most likely infected.

'I think I've had enough today, m' lovely. I will see you tomorrow.' Lukas was, as always, eerily cheerful when he spoke and almost looked like he had a bounce in his step.

Will thought, certainly not for the first time, that Lukas was a one of a kind creep.

* * *

**so did you all smile a little, maybe just a bit when Gilan told Halt? I hope so, it was meant to be a bit of good in all the darkness of this fic. Im finally making it go somewhere *go me!* so thats cool. it may be a while again before I update, nowhere near as long as the time before last though - I promise!**

**luv u all..**

**passion.**


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